tihvavy  of  t^ve  tiveolojical  ^mimxy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

PURCHASED  BY  THE 
MRS.  ROBERT  LENOX  KENNEDY 
CHURCH  HISTORY  FUND 


NICHOLAS    LOUIS    VON  ZINZENDORF. 


A  HISTORY 

OF 

THE  CHURCH  KNOWN  AS  THE 

Moravian  Church, 

OR 

THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM, 

OR 

THE  UNITY  OF  THE  BRETHREN, 

DURING  THE  EIGHTEENTH  AND  NINETEENTH 
CENTURIES. 


BY 

J.  TAYLOR  HAMILTON, 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  the  Moravian  Theological  Sf.minary, 
Bethlehem,  Pa. 


BETHLEHEM,  PA. 
TiMBS  Publishing  Company,  Printers. 
1900. 


COPYRIGHT. 
1900, 

By  J.  Taylor  Hamilton. 


PREFACE. 

Completed  in  the  year  memorable  as  the  bicentenary  of  the 
birth  of  Nicholas  Louis  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  instrument  in 
God's  hand  for  the  resuscitation  of  the  almost  extinct  evan- 
gehcal  Church  of  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren,  this 
attempt  to  trace  the  renewal  and  development  of  its  life  and  the 
spread  of  its  missionary  undertakings  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
during  the  two  hundred  years  that  followed,  is  reverently  dedi- 
cated to  his  memory.  It  enters  upon  what  is  in  large  part  a 
new  field  of  history;  hence  its  author  craves  lenient  judgment. 

Special  thanks  are  due  and  are  herewith  cordially  tendered 
to  Bishop  J.  M.  Levering,  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  Archivist  of  the 
Moravian  Church  in  America  (North) ;  to  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Glitsch,  Archivist  of  the  Brethren's  Unity,  at  Herrnhut ;  to  the 
Rev.  Leonard  G.  Hasse,  Director  of  the  Moravian  College  and 
Theological  Seminary  at  Fairfield,  in  England ;  and  to  the  Rev. 
Charles  J.  Klesel,  Secretary  of  Moravian  Missions,  in  London, 
England.  To  their  kind  assistance  much  valuable  information 
is  to  be  ascribed. 

Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  June  i8,  1900. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


The  following  are  the  chief  sources  for  the  history  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  during  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries : 

MANUSCRIPT  SOURCES. 

The  very  extensive  archives  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania,  are  exceedingly  rich  in  original  documents — autobiographies, 
biographies,  letters,  congregation  diaries,  minutes  of  various  synods, 
conferences,  etc.,  giving  a  vast  amount  of  information  from  the  very 
inception  of  the  work  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America,  together  with 
correspondence,  and  copies  of  documents  of  first  importance  for  the  history 
of  the  Moravian  Church  abroad.    The  following  are  of  primary  importance; 

The  Diary  of  the  Congregation  at  Bethlehem,  Penna.,  1 742-1 899. 

Journals  of  the  "Pennsylvania  Synods"  1742- 1748. 

Diarium  der  Hiitten,  1 747-1 755. 

Jiingerhaus  Diarium,  1756-1760. 

Gemeinhaus  Diarium,  1 761-1764. 

Gemein  Nachrichten,  1765-18 18. 

Reports  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  General  Synods  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  I 746-1 836. 

Original  Minutes  and  Documents  of  the  Provincial  Synods  of  the 
American  Moravian  Church,  North,  1 748-1 898. 

Monatliche  Nachrichten  aus  der  Unitdts  Aeltesten  Coiiferenz,  1 764-1 858. 

Monatliche  Nachrichten  aus  der  Provinzial  Heifer  Confer enz,  1802- 1848. 

PRINTED  SOURCES. 

Reichel,  William  C,  Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Church.  (Contains 
documents  from  1742  to  1757.)    Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  and  Co.,  1870. 

Spangenberg,  Augustus  Gottlieb,  Darlegung  richtiger  Antworten. 
etc.,  Leipzig  and  Gorlitz,  175 1. 

ZiNZENDORF,  NICHOLAS  LUDWIG  VON,  Die  Biidingische  Sammlung 
einiger  in  die  Kirchen-Historie  einschlagender  sonderlich  neuerer  Schrifften. 
Three  vols.,  Biidingen,  Joh.  Chr.  Stohr,  1742-1745. 

 ,  Pennsylvanische  Nachrichten  von  dem  Reiche  Christi,  1742. 

 ,  Ludwigs  von  Zinzendorf,  IIEPI  EAYTOY.    Das  ist :  Naturelle 

Reflexiones  iiber  allerhand  Materien.  1746. 

 ,  Reden,  Berlinische,  des  Ordinarii  Fratrum,  etc.,  London  and 

Barby,  Second  Edition,  1758.  (Translated.  Sixteen  Discourses  on  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  Being  an  Exposition  of  the  Second  Part  of  the  Creed, 
preached  at  Berlin  by  the  Right  Rev.  Lewis,  Bishop  of  the  Ancient  Breth- 
ren's Church.    London,  1755.) 


vi 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


 ,  Theologische  und  darin  einschlagende  Bedenken.  Biidingen, 

Johann  Christoph  Stohr,  1742. 

 ,  Acta  Fratrum  Unitatis  in  Anglia.    London,  1749. 

Diary  of  David  Zeisberger,  1781-1798.  Translated  by  Eugene  F. 
Bliss,  and  printed  by  Robert  Clarke  for  the  Historical  and  Philosophical 
Society  of  Ohio.    Two  vols.,  Cincinnati,  1885. 

Periodical  Accounts  Relating  to  the  Missions  Established  by  the  Prot- 
estant Church  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.    Quarterly,  London,  1790-1900. 

Verldssc,  und  Verhandlungen  von,  u>td  Mitteilungen  aits  den  Allge- 
meinen  Synoden  der  Briider-Unitdt,  1836- 1899. 

Journals  of  the  Provincial  Synods  of  the  American  Moravian  Church, 
North,  1 847- 1 898. 

Reports  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen, 
1 849- 1 899. 

The  United  Brethren's  Missionary  Intelligencer.    Quarterly,  1822- 1848. 

The  Moravia7i  Church  Miscellany.    Monthly,  1850-1855. 

Das  Bruder  Blatt.    Monthly,  18  54-1 861. 

The  Moravian.     Weekly,  1856- 1900. 

Der  Briider-Botschafter.     Weekly,  1866 -1900. 

Das  Missions- Blatt.    Monthly,  1837-1900. 

Der  Bruder- Bote.    Monthly,  1862- 1898. 

Mitteilungen  aus  der  Bruder  Gemeine.    Monthly,  1895- 1900. 

Histories  and  Biographies, 
manuscript. 

Plitt,  Johannes,  DenkwUrdigkeiten  aus  der  Geschichte  der  Briider- 
Unitdt,  1 841.  (The  part  relating  to  the  history  since  1722  fills  three  volu- 
minous and  closely  written  quarto  vols.  A  copy  is  in  the  Library  of  the 
Moravian  Theological  Seminary,  Bethlehem,  Pa.  Very  valuable.  As  archi- 
vist of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Herrnhut,  Professor  Plitt  draws  from  and 
largely  quotes  original  documents.) 

SCHWEINITZ,  Edmund  de,  S.  T.  D.,  Lectures  delivered  in  the  Mora- 
vian Theological  Seminary,  1876- 1877. 

PRINTED. 

Becker,  Bernhard,  D.D.,  Zinzendorf  im  Verhaltnis  zu  Philosophic  und 
Kirchentum  seiner  Zeit.    Leipzig,  L  C.  Hinrichs'sche  Buchhandlung,  1886. 

Benham,  Daniel,  Memoirs  of  James  Hutton.  London,  Hamilton, 
Adams  &  Co.,  1856. 

BovET,  Felix,  Le  Comte  de  Zinzendorf,  Deuxi6me  Edition,  revue  et 
augment^e.  Paris,  1865.  (Translated.  The  Banished  Count.  By  Rev. 
John  Gill.    London,  James  Nisbet  and  Co.,  1865.) 

Buchner,  C,  Acht  Monate  in  Siid  Africa.  Giitersloh.  C.  Bertelsmann, 
1894. 

Burkhardt,  G.,  Zinzendorf  und  die  Briidergemeine  seiner  Zeit.  Gotha, 
Rud.  Besser,  1886. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


vii 


 ,  Die  Briidergemeine.    Erster  Teil,  Entstehung  und  gcschichtliche 

Entwickelung  der  Briidergemeine.  Gnadau,  1893.  Zweiter  Teil,  Die 
Briidergemeine  in  ihrer  gegenwartigen  Gestalt.    Gnadau,  1897. 

 ,  Die  Mission  der  Briidergemeine  in  Missionstunden.    Gronland  und 

Alaska,  (H.  G.  Schneider)  1897.  Suriname,  1898.  Deutsch-Ostafrika, 
Nyassa-Gebiet,  1898.    Leipzig,  Friedrich  Jansa. 

Cranz,  David,  Alte  und  Neue  Bruder-Historie.  Barby,  H.  D.  Ebers, 
1 77 1.  (Translated.  Tlie  Ancient  and  Modern  History  of  the  Brethren.  By 
Benjamin  La  Trobe.    London,  W.  and  A.  Strahan.) 

Croger,  E.  W.,  Geschichte  der  erneuerten  Briiderkirche.  Three  vols., 
Gnadau,  1852-1854. 

Gedenktage  der  erneuerten  Bruderkirche.  Gnadau,  1821. 
Translated.  The  Memorial  Days  of  the  Renewed  Church  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum.    Ashton-under-Lyne,  1822. 

Dewitz,  a.  von,  In  Danisch  -  Westindien.  Herrnhut,  zweite  Auflage, 
Schneider,  1882. 

 ,  An  der  Kiiste  Labradors,  zweite  Auflage,  Herrnhut,  1891. 

Glitsch,  Alexander,  Geschichte  der  Briidergemeine  Sarepta  im 
Sstlichen  Russland  wahrend  ihres  hundertjahrigen  Bestehens.  Nisky,  L. 
Glitsch,  1865. 

Hegner,  J.  K.,  Fortsetzung  von  David  Cranzens  Briider  historic.  Drei 
Abschnitte,  1769-1775,  1775-1782,  1782-1789.    Barby,  1791,  1804. 

Holmes,  Rev.  John,  History  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  the  United 
Brethren.    Two  vols.    London,  1825,  1830. 

 ,  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Missions  of  the  United  Brethren  for 

Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen,  from  their  Commencement  to 
the  Year  1817.    Second  edition,  London,  1827. 

KoLBiNG,  Friedrich  Ludwig,  Nachricht  von  dem  Anfange  der  bischof- 
lichen  Ordination  in  der  erneuerten  evangeiischen  Briiderkirche.  Gnadau, 
C.  D.  Hans,  1835. 

LoCKWOOD,  Rev.  J.  P.,  Memorials  of  the  Life  of  Peter  Bohler,  Bishop 
of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren.  With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Jackson.    London,  Wesleyan  Conference  Office,  1868. 

Loskiel,  Georg  Heinrich,  Geschichte  der  Mission  der  evangeiischen 
Briider  unter  den  Indianern  in  Nord  Amerika.  Barby,  1789.  (Translated. 
History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Indians  in  North 
America.  By  George  Henry  Loskiel.  Translated  from  the  German  by 
Christian  Ignatius  La  Trobe.    London,  1794.) 

Oldendorp,  C.  G.  a.,  Geschichte  der  Mission  der  Evangeiischen  Briider 
auf  den  Caraibischen  Inseln,  S.  Thomas,  S.  Croix,  und  S.  Jan.  Barby, 
Johannes  Jacob  Bos-sart,  1777. 

Plitt,  Hermann,  D.D.,  Zinzendorf 's  Theologie.  Gotha,  F.  A.  Perthes, 
1869,  1871,  1874. 

 ,  Die  Gemeine  Gottes  in  ihrem  Geist,  und  ihren  Formen  mit  beson- 

derer  Beziehung  auf  die  Briidergemeine.    Gotha,  F.  A.  Perthes,  1859. 

 ,   Die   Briidergemeine  und  die   Lutherische  Kirche  in  Li  viand. 

Gotha,  F.  A.  Perthes,  1861. 


viii 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Reichel,  Rev.  Levin  T.,  The  Moravians  in  North  Carolina ;  An 
Authentic  History.    Salem,  N.  C,  O.  A.  Keehln,  1857. 

 ,  The  Early  History  of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  North 

America,  A.D.  1734-1748.  (Vol.  3  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Moravian 
Historical  Society.)    Nazareth,  Pa.,  1888. 

Reichel,  William  C,  Memorial  of  the  Dedication  of  Monuments 
erected  by  the  Moravian  Historical  Society  to  mark  the  Sites  of  Ancient 
Missionary  Stations  in  New  York  and  Connecticut.  Philadelphia,  Collins,  i860. 

RiSLER,  Jeremias,  Leben  August  Gottlieb  Spangenbergs,  Bischofs  der 
evangelischen  Briiderkirche.    Barby,  1794. 

RiTTER,  Abraham,  History  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Philadelphia, 
from  its  Foundation  in  1742  to  the  Present  Time.  Philadelphia,  C.  Sherman 
and  Son, 1857. 

Schneider,  Hermann,  Ein  Missionsbild  aus  dem  Westlichen  Himalaya. 
Gnadau,  1880.  (Translated.  Working  and  Waiting  for  Tibet.  Arthur 
Ward.    London,  Morgan  and  Scott.) 

 ,  Missionsarbeit  der  Briidergemeine  in  Australien.    Gnadau,  1882. 

 ,  Gnadenthal.    Stuttgart,  Roth,  1892. 

 ,  Die  Buschncger  Surinams.    Herrnhut,  1893. 

 ,  Moskito.     Zur   Errinnerung  an  die  Feier  des  fiinfzigjahrigen 

Bestehensdtr  Mission  der  Briidergemeine  in  Mittel-Amerika.  Herrnhut,  1899. 

Schrautenbach,  Ludwig  Carl,  Freiherr  von,  Der  Graf  Zinzen- 
dorf  und  die  Briidergemeine  seiner  Zeit.  Herausgcgeben  von  F.  W. 
Kblbing.    Gnadau,  H.  L.  Menz,  185 1. 

Schultze,  a.,  D.D.,  Die  Missionsfelder  der  erneuertcn  Briiderkirche. 
Bethlehem,  Pa..  1890. 

Schweinitz,  Edmund  de,  S.  T.  D..  The  Moravian  Manual.  Second, 
enlarged  Edition,  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  A.  C.  and  H.  T.  Clauder,  1869. 

 ,  The  Life  and  Times  of  David  Zeisberger,  the  Western  Pioneer 

and  Apostle  of  the  Indians.    Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  and  Co.,  1870. 

 ,  The  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren 

for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen.    Bethlehem,  1887. 

 ,  The  Financial  History  of  the  American  Province  of  the  Unitas 

Fratrum,  and  of  its  Sustentation  Fund.    Bethlehem,  1887. 

Spangenberg,  Augustus  Gottlieb,  Leben  des  Herrn  Nicolaus  Ludwig 
Grafen  und  Herrn  von  Zinzendorf  und  Pottendorf.  Acht  Theile  in  drei 
Banden.  Barby,  1772-1775.  (Translated.  The  Life  of  Nicholas  Louis, 
Count  Zinzendorf.  By  Samuel  Jackson.  With  an  Introductory  Preface  by 
the  Rev.  P.  La  Trobe.    London,  Samuel  Holdsworth,  1838.) 

Thompson,  Augustus,  D.  D.,  Moravian  Missions.  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1882. 

Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society.  Nazareth, 
Pa.,  1859  to  1900. 

Verbeek,  Jacob  Wilhelm,  Des  Grafen  Nicolaus  Ludwig  von  Zinzen- 
dorf Leben  und  Charakter,  in  kurzgefasster  Darstellung  nach  A.  G.  Spangen- 
bergs Biographic  desselben  und  Quellen  aus  dem  Archiv  der  evangelischen 
Briider-Unitat.    Gnadau,  H.  L.  Menz,  1845. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER  L— Introductory,        .  .  .  .  .  i 

CHAPTER  n. — The  Antecedents  and  Early  Life  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  17 
CHAPTER  III.— The  Five  Loyal  Sons  of  the  Unity,   and  their 
Dreams  of  a  Resuscitation,  .  .  .  .  .  .24 

CHAPTER  IV. — The  Development  of  Herrnhut,  and  the  Resusci- 
tation of  the  Moravian  Church  made  Possible  through  the  Baptism  of 
the  Spirit,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .31 

CHAPTER  v.— The  Inner  Life  of   Herrnhut,   and  Its  External 
Activity,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  .40 

./CHAPTER  VI.— The  First  Decade  of  the  Foreign  Missions,      .  49 

CHAPTER  VII. —The  Transfer  of  the  Episcopate,  and  the  Banish- 
ment of  Count  Zinzendorf,  .  .  .  .  .  .67 

CHAPTER  VIII. — The   Beginnings  of   the  Moravian  Church  in 
America,  ........  78 

CHAPTER  IX.— The  Beginnings  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  England,  84 
CHAPTER  X.— The  Work  and  Wanderings  of  the  Banished  Count,  92 
CHAPTER  XI. — Zinzendorf  in  Pennsylvania,  .  .  .  102 

CHAPTER  XII. — The  Growth  of  the  Church  on  the  Continent,  from 
the  Synodical  Conference  in  London  to  the  Reversal  of  the  Decree  of 
Zinzendorf 's  Exile,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .111 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Progress  in  Great  Britain,  to  the  Recognition  by 
Act  of  Parliament,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .128 

CHAPTER  XIV.— Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  as  Joint  Centers  of 
Evangelistic  Activity,  1 742-1 748,        .....  138 

CHAPTER  XV. — Financial  Straits,  and  the  Germs  of  Conferential 
Government,  17  50-1 7  54,     .         .         .         .         .         .  .146 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Zinzendorf 's  Eventide,  .  .  .154 

CHAPTER  XVII.— British  Affairs,  from  the  Recognition  by  Parlia- 
ment to  Zinzendorf 's  Death,  .  .  .  .  .  .161 

•   CHAPTER  XVIII.- The  Era  of  the  Economy  in  America,       .  168 

CHAPTER  XIX.— Missionary  Undertakings  during  the  Latter  Part 
of  the  Zinzendorfian  Era,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .178 

CHAPTER  XX.— The  Theology  of  the  Zinzendorfian  Era,        .  189 
CHAPTER  XXL— The  Position  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  at  the  Death 
of  Zinzendorf,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .196 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER  XXII. — Provisional  Arrangements  for  Supervision,  and 
the  Affairs  of  the  Church  on  the  Continent,  to  the  Constitutional  Synod 
of  1769,  .........  200 

CHAPTER  XXIII. -The  Colony  on  the  Volga,  1762-1765,  .  .  208 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— The  Affairs  of  the  Unity  in  Britain  and  Ireland 
from  the  Death  of  Zinzendorf  to  the  Synod  of  1769,  .  .  .  213 

CHAPTER  XXV. — The  Adoption  of  a  Permanent  Constitution  and 
the  Formulation  of  the  Doctrinal  Position,  1769  and  1775,         .  .  216 

CHAPTER  XXVI.— The  Establishment  of  the  Mission  in  Labra- 
dor, 1764,  ........  222 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— The  Church  on  the  Continent,  from  the  Adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution  to  the  Outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution, 
1769-1792,   .........  227 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— American  Affairs,  from  the  Leaving  of  Span- 
genberg  to  the  Eve  of  the  War  of  Independence,      .  .  .  238 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— Affairs  in  Great   Britain   and  Ireland,  from 
1769  to  1775,  ........  248 

•M'    CHAPTER  XXX.— The  Church  in  America  from  1775  to  1792.  251 

CHAPTER  XXXI.-^The  Missions  to  the  Heathen  in  the  Period 
preceding  and  immediately  after  their  Jubilee,  .         .         .  264 

CHAPTER  XXXII.— The  Renewal  of  the  Mission  in  Cape  Colony. 
1792,  .........  276 

CHAPTER  XXXIII.— The  Annals  of  the  Continental  Congregations 
during  the  Decade  preceding  the  General  Synod  of  1801,      .  .  282 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. -The  British  Province  at  the  Close  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  .......  286 

CHAPTER  XXXV.— The  Church  in  America  during  the  Years  pre- 
ceding the  Synod  of  1801,        ......  291 

CHAPTER  XXXVI.— The  General  Synod  of  1 801,  .         .  .297 

CHAPTER  XXXVII.  — The  Congregations  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  during  the  Napoleonic  Era,     .....  302 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII.— The  British  Congregations  during  the  Na- 
poleonic Era,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .312 

CHAPTER  XXXIX.— The  Church  in  America  during  the  Opening 
Years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  .  .....  317 

CHAPTER  XL. — The  Foreign  Missions,  from  their  Jubilee  to  the 
^  Synod  of  1818,  ........  324 

CHAPTER  XLI.— The  General  Synod  of  1818,        .  .  .335 

CHAPTER  XLII. — The  Church  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  from 
1818  to  1836,     ........  340 

CHAPTER  XLIII.— The  Church  in  Britain,  from  1818  to  1836,       .  350 

CHAPTER  XLIV.— The  Church  in  America,  1818  to  1836,       .  357 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER  XLV.— The  Missions,  from  1818  to  1836,  .  .  366 

CHAPTER  XLVI.— The  General  Synod  of  1836,  .  .  -379 

CHAPTER  XLVn.— The  Church  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  from 
1836  to  1857,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .381 

CHAPTER  XLVHI.— The  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  from  1836 

to  1857,  393 

CHAPTER  XLIX.— The  American  Congregations,  from  1836  to 

1857,  •  -399 

CHAPTER  L.— The  Mission  Fields,  from  1836  to  1857,  .  .  410 

CHAPTER  LI. — The  Three  New  Mission  Fields  Entered  between 
the  Years  1848  and  1857 — the  Moskito  Coast,  Australia,  and  Central 
Asia,  .........  427 

CHAPTER  LII.— The  General  Synod  of  1857,     :  .  -434 

CHAPTER  LIII.— The  German  Province,  from  1857  to  1869,         .  437 
CHAPTER  LIV.— The  British  Province,  from  1857  to  1869,       .  441 
CHAPTER  LV.— The  American  Province,  from  1857  to  1869,         .  446 
CHAPTER  LVI.— The  Foreign  Missions,  from  1857  to  1869,    .  453 
CHAPTER  LVIL— The  General  Synod  of  1869,       .  .  .471 

CHAPTER  LVIII.— The  German  Province,  1869  to  1879,  .  475 

CHAPTER  LIX.— The  British  Province,  1869  to  1879,        .  .  478 

CHAPTER  LX.— The  American  Province,  from  1869  to  1879,    .  482 
CHAPTER  LXI.— The  Foreign  Missions,  from  1869  to  1879,  .  489 

CHAPTER  LXII.— The  General  Synod  of  1879,  •         •  .508 
CHAPTER  LXIII.— The  German  Province,  from  1879  to  1889,      .  511 
CHAPTER  LXIV.— The  British  Province,  from  1879  to  1889,    .  516 
CHAPTER  LXV.— The  American  Province,  from  1879  to  1889,  .519 
CHAPTER  LXVI.— The  Foreign  Missions,  from  1879  to  1889,  .  527 
CHAPTER  LXVIL— The  Founding  of  the  Mission  in  Alaska,        .  540 
CHAPTER  LXVIII.— A  Brief  Survey  of  the  Closing  Years  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,     .......  548 

CHAPTER  LXIX. — The  Founding  of  the  Mission  in  German  East 
Africa,        .........  570 

CHAPTER  LXX.— The  General  Synod  of  1899,  .  .  576 

APPENDIX  A.— A  List  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Resuscitated  Mora- 
vian Church,  ........  586 

APPENDIX  B.— The  Doctrinal  Position  of  the  Moravian  Church,  592 
INDEX,        ........  603 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Nicholas  Louis  von  Zinzendorf, 

Frontispiece. 

Christian  David,  .... 

facing  page  27 

Leonard  Dober,  .... 

•     "      "  53 

David  Nitschmann, 

71 

Peter  Bohler,  ..... 

.     "      ••  87 

John  Cennick,  .... 

129 

Benjamin  La  Trobe,  .... 

.     ■•       "  161 

Janaes  Hutton,  .... 

"  171 

Father  David  Nitschmann, 

"  177 

John  Gambold,  .... 

215 

Augustus  Gottlieb  Spangenberg, 

.     "       "  237 

John  Ettwein,  .... 

"  253 

David  Zeisberger,  .... 

.     "      ••  321 

John  Baptist  Albertini, 

"  347 

Louis  David  de  Schweinitz,  . 

.            ••  361 

Christian  Ignatius  La  Trobe, 

"  375 

Ernest  William  Croger, 

.     ••       ••  389 

William  Mallalieu, 

"  417 

George  Wall  Westerby, 

•     "       •'  495 

Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  . 

"  525 

CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

For  the  Ancient  Unitas  Fratrum  the  outcome  of  the  terrific 
convulsions  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  the  practical  annihi- 
lation of  its  congregations  in  the  twin  lands  of  its  birth,  amidst 
persecutions  that  disgraced  the  Christian  name,  though  scat- 
tered individuals  loyally  held  to  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of 
their  fathers  in  hope  against  hope.  For  the  rest  of  the  parties" 
to  the  struggle,  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  may  briefly  be  de- 
scribed as  having  put  a  restraint  upon  their  battlings  with  the 
sword  by  placing  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed  and  Roman 
Catholics  practically  on  the  same  footing  throughout  the 
various  dominions  of  Germany,  so  far  as  concerned  the  right  to 
worship.  In  fact  efforts  were  made  to  bring  about  a  union  be- 
tween the  Lutherans  and  the  Roman  Catholics  and  also  between 
the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed.  Although  such  well  meant, 
if  unpractical,  efiforts  of  Calixtus  and  others  not  only  failed  to 
achieve  this  desired  result,  and  instead  intensified  the  extreme 
aversion  with  which  the  adherents  of  one  confession  regarded 
those  of  another,  nevertheless  there  were  men  who  plainly  per- 
ceived that  Christian  ethics  had  been  only  too  sadly  ignored 
in  the  battling  of  theologians  and  their  partisans  concerning 
dogma.  Amongst  these  there  now  arose  a  longing  for  the 
spread  of  true  godliness  rather  than  for  obtaining  assent  to 
exact  definitions  of  dogmatic  theology.  Such  prominent  per- 
sonages as  Ernst  the  Pious,  Duke  of  Saxe-Gotha,  and  Pastor 
Paul  Gerhard,  the  hymn-writer,  strove  most  earnestly  to  raise 
the  standard  of  Christian  life.  The  need  of  a  new  reformation 
came  to  be  recognized,  in  which  prominence  should  be  given 
to  the  culture  of  personal  piety.  Thus  the  Protestants  of  Ger- 
many began  to  approach  what  had  ever  been  the  standpoint  of 
the  Brethren's  Church. 

Schrautenbach  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  age.  "How 
surprisingly  different  from  our  own  were  those  times  that  have 


2 


A  HISTORY  OF 


scarcely  disappeared.  Culture,  enlightenment,  general  intelli- 
gence far  less  than  at  present.  Less  intercourse  of  peoples  with 
one  another,  throughout  the  great  world.  A  veneration  of  re- 
spectable darkness  in  many  things ;  everything  not  so  mingled, 
made  common,  everything  more  definite  in  its  bounds  and  con- 
trasts. Everything  scientific  made  less  popular ;  more  labor 
and  toil  in  every  province  of  life :  and  hence  fixed  impressions 
and  convictions.  The  maimers  rough,  with  ever  a  step  nearer 
to  nature ;  and  therefore  impetuosity,  irritability,  energy.  Many 
of  the  scholars  of  the  Church  and  the  clergy  intolerant  and 
masterful,  accustomed  to  deal  arbitrarily  and  with  great  power, 
being  secure  in  the  possession  of  their  livings,  and  taking  posi- 
tions without  being  asked  by  anyone,  'What  are  you  about?' 
Those  men  who  sought  for  an  improvement  (not  the  comfort- 
able, fortunate,  well-to-do  pious,  who  are  made  for  the  world 
and  the  world  for  them,  but  the  perplexed  and  earnest  seek- 
ers), for  the  most  part  deeply  wounded  at  the  proceedings  of 
the  influential,  bearing  their  griefs  within  them,  mistrustful  and 
stubborn ;  yet  a  general  longing  amongst  these  men  for  union, 
though  from  very  indistinct  reasons." 

The  man  providentially  destined  to  turn  such  longings  into 
a  definite  channel  was  Philip  Jacob  Spener,  born  January  13, 
1635,  at  Rappoltsweiler  near  Colmar  in  Alsace.  His  religious 
life  began  at  thirteen,  by  the  death-bed  of  his  mother.  Indebted 
for  both  religious  training  and  intellectual  culture  to  Joachim 
Stoll,  subsequently  his  brother-in-law  and  from  1645  chaplain 
to  the  Counts  of  Rappolstein,  he  was  educated  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Strasburg,  and  in  this  city  he  commenced  his  ministerial 
career.  In  1666  he  received  an  appointment  as  pastor 
in  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Deeply  in  earnest  and  fully  con- 
vinced that  the  dogmatic  disquisitions  and  theological  polemics 
which  made  up  the  sermons  of  the  day  could  be  of  very  Httle 
profit  to  the  people,  his  great  object  was  to  set  forth  the  sav- 
ing- power  of  the  Gospel.  In  his  discourses  he  therefore 
avoided  all  technical  terms,  and  he  also  sought  to  again  bring 
into  repute  catechetical  instruction,  which  had  been  left  by  most 
pastors  to  the  indifference  of  the  parish  school-teachers.  In 
order  to  exercise  a  more  effectual  influence  over  individual 
souls,  in  1670  he  began  to  hold  private  meetings  at  his  own 
house.  In  these  informal  gatherings  he  repeated  the  substance 
of  the  Sunday  sermons,  explained  and  expounded  passages 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


3 


from  the  New  Testament,  and  gave  those  present  an  opportu- 
nity to  ask  questions  and  express  their  views.  In  1675  he  pub- 
lished his  famous  "Pia  Dcsideria,"  embodying  his  opinions 
with  regard  to  the  need  of  a  reformation  of  the  pubHc  instruc- 
tions and  a  resuscitation  of  personal  piety  in  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  the  manner  in  which  these  ends  were  to  be  at- 
tained. General  attention  was  attracted  to  the  author  of  the 
work.  "Collegia  Pietatis,"  as  he  called  his  gatherings  for  the 
culture  of  the  spiritual  Hfe,  were  introduced  in  many  places. 

In  1686  Spener  was  called  to  Dresden  as  chief  court  chap- 
lain. Here  he  rendered  important  services  in  securing,  in  par- 
ticular, the  general  introduction  of  catechetical  instruction  and 
examinations  throughout  the  Electorate  of  Saxony.  The  re- 
sumption of  exegetical  lectures  at  Leipsic  and  Wittenberg  was 
also  due  to  his  influence. 

At  the  former  University  three  young  Masters  of  Arts,  Au- 
gustus Herman  Francke,  John  Caspar  Schade,  and  Paul  Anton, 
imbibed  his  spirit  and  entered  into  his  plans  very  cordially. 
Like  him,  they  began  to  give  lectures  on  the  books  of  the 
Bible  in  the  German  language,  in  which  they  sought  not 
learned  exposition,  but  the  awakening  of  genuine  piety.  Large 
numbers  of  students  and  citizens  came  to  hear  them.  The 
jealous  enmity  of  the  pastors  was  aroused,  more  especially  be- 
cause these  followers  of  Spener  taught  that  worldly  amuse- 
ments, the  dance,  the  theater,  the  card-table,  fashions,  etc., 
were  unlawful  for  true  Christians,  whereas  the  regular  pastors 
countenanced  them.  The  members  of  the  Theological  Faculty 
also  took  an  antagonistic  position,  notably  Benedict  Carpzov, 
who  believed  he  had  delivered  a  sufficient  reply  to  the  efforts 
of  these  men  in  his  biting  epigram,  "satis  pii  sed  satis  indocti." 

Stigmatized  as  "Pietists,"  the  three  Masters  were  driven 
from  Leipsic  after  a  legal  investigation  in  1691.  Spener  him- 
self also  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
through  the  freedom  with  which  he  had  censured  the  morals 
of  the  court  and  the  drunken  sensuaHty  of  the  ruler.  Hence 
he  was  glad  in  the  same  year  to  accept  a  call  to  Berlin.  Here 
he  labored  faithfully  until  his  death,  February  5,  1705. 

"The  three  fimdamental  truths  underlying  his  system  of  doc- 
trine were,  Man's  total  depravity,  God's  revelation  to  man,  and 
Man's  communion  with  God.  By  nature  we  are  estranged 
fiom  Him.    We  must  be  born  again.    There  is  a  fundamental 


4 


A  HISTORY  OF 


distinction  between  the  regenerate  and  the  unregenerate  state. 
When  men  have  been  born  again,  holiness  must  follow  as  a 
consequence.  This  consists  neither  in  the  feelings  nor  in  an 
emotional  religion,  but  Hving  a  genuine^  devout  life.  Out  of 
this  doctrinal  system  grew  his  practical  ideas  with  regard  to 
the  spread  of  true  religion.  Christianity  can  be  apprehended 
and  commimicated  only  by  those  who  have  experienced  its 
power  through  repentance  and  faith.  Only  a  regenerate  man 
can  be  a  true  theologian,  and  a  real  minister.  Theological 
studies  must  be  based  on  the  Bible,  and  not  on  Church  creeds. 
Scripture  must  be  explained  by  Scripture.  A  separation  from 
the  Church  is  to  be  carefully  avoided ;  but  ecclesiolae  in  eccksia 
are  to  be  organized.  By  this  term  Spener  meant  little  asso- 
ciations of  living  members  within  a  regular  parish,  to  act  as  a 
leaven  among  the  membership.  Awakened  and  regenerate 
persons  are  to  institute  a  special  fellowship  among  themselves, 
and  to  uphold  certain  regular  rules  in  view  of  personal  piety 
and  family  religion ;  but  at  the  same  time  they  are  to  remain  in 
the  full  communion  of  the  Church." 

Orthodox  Lutherans  objected  to  various  ideas  of  the  Pietists, 
particularly  to  the  principle  that  the  theology  of  the  unregen- 
erate is  no  true  theology.  They  contended,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  unregenerate  man  could  comprehend  the  truths  of 
vital  religion,  and  could  efficiently  do  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
the  former  being  a  phase  of  philosophy  and  the  latter  a  pro- 
fession. They  alleged  that  at  bottom  the  Pietists  sought  jus- 
tification by  works.  Moreover  both  shortly  before  and  dur- 
ing the  Pietistic  Controversy,  many  fanatics  made  their  ap- 
pearance, some  of  whom  had  a  certain  affinity  to  the  Pietists, 
which  gave  the  Orthodox  an  opportunity  to  place  Pietism  in 
the  same  category  with  these  forms  of  fanaticism,  though  these 
errors  were  neither  a  necessary  nor  a  legitimate  outcome  of 
Spener's  position. 

Its  more  just  development  is  to  be  seen  in  the  life-work  of 
AugListus  Herman  Franckc.  Born  March  23,  1663,  at  Liibeck, 
he  had  been  educated  at  Erfurt  and  at  Leipsic,  where  he  had 
for  a  time  lectured  after  obtaining  his  Master's  degree.  Dis- 
missed for  his  Pietism,  together  with  his  friends,  Paul  Anton 
and  John  Justus  Breithaupt,  he  had  been  invited  to  the  new 
University  of  Halle,  in  1692.  At  first  Professor  of  Oriental 
languages,  he  was  afterwards  the  occupant  of  the  chair  of  The- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


5 


ology,  and  pastor  of  Glaucha,  a  suburb  of  the  city.  Here  God 
used  him  for  large  service,  in  connection  with  the  estabHsh- 
ment  of  a  charity-school,  which  he  opened  first  of  all  in  his 
own  house.  The  number  of  children  admitted  rapidly  increased 
from  year  to  year.  In  1698  was  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the 
first  edifice  of  the  vast  rows  of  structures  that  astonish  the  vis- 
itor to-day.  Funds  were  received  in  unexpected  ways  from  all 
cjuarters,  till  in  time  his  institutions  comprised  a  College,  an 
Orphan  asylum,  a  Home  for  poor,  a  Bible-house,  a  Seminary 
for  the  training  of  teachers,  a  Divinity-school,  a  Foreign  mis- 
sionary Society,  a  Book-store,  a  Printing-office,  an  Apothecary 
shop,  and  an  Infirmary.  Anton  and  Breithaupt  assisted  him ; 
Baron  Canstein  established  the  Bible-house.  Ziegenbalg  and 
Pliitsliau  were  the  first  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  society  in 
1706,  to  Tranquebar. 

These  institutions  of  Francke  mightily  worked  for  the  spread 
of  Pietism.  Soon  the  influence  of  this  system  made  itself  felt 
not  only  in  the  world  of  dogma  but  also  in  the  theory  of  edu- 
cation, and  in  social  life  by  the  organization  of  ccclcsioloc 
throughout  various  parts  of  Germany.  As  regards  the  sys- 
tem of  education,  to  its  praise  it  sought  to  combine  personal 
piety  with  a  preparation  for  highest  usefulness,  but  was  one 
sided  and  overloaded  with  religious  exercises.  The  chief  cen- 
ters of  learning  which  were  afifected  by  Pietism  were  those  at 
Halle,  Jena  and  Tubingen.  At  Jena,  Buddseus  began  to  exert 
a  special  influence  among  the  students,  encouraging  the  for- 
mation of  religious  associations  amongst  them,  and  used  all 
his  influence  to  revive  discipline  in  the  Church  and  the  personal 
care  of  souls.  Devoting  himself  especially  to  researches  in 
Ecclesiastical  Flistory,  he  published,  amongst  other  works,  the 
Ratio  Disciplinac  of  Comenius,  and  recommended  the  discipline 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  the  Church  of  Germany.  From  the 
University  of  Jena  scholarly  graduates  were  destined  hereafter 
to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  loyal  adherents  of  the  Church  of 
the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren,  and  became  men  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  resuscitation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 
Tubingen  was  similarly  under  the  influence  of  moderate  Pietism, 
promoted  by  Professor  Bengel,  Chancellor  Pfaff,  and  others. 
This  University  likewise  contributed  its  men  to  the  ministry 
of  the  Unity  in  later  decades. 


6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  influence  of  Pietism  on  personal  religion  was  very  one- 
sided, the  fundamental  mistake  being  that  practically  one  and 
tlie  same  mode  of  conversion  was  insisted  on  in  every  case. 
The  terms  Dtirchbruch,  Busskampf  and  Rettende  Gnade  became 
its  shibboleths.  Yet  its  faults  deserve  to  be  forgotten  over- 
against  the  general  good  which  Pietism  accompHshed.  The 
ecclesiolae  in  the  time  of  Spener  existed  especially  amongst  the 
better  class  of  noble  families,  and  thus  wielded  a  powerful  in- 
fluence for  righteousness.  After  the  death  of  Spener  these 
ecclesiolae  continued  to  spread  through  the  exertions  of  Francke. 
This  was  the  case  especially  in  Central  Germany,  Saxony,  Sile- 
sia, Denmark,  Livonia  and  Switzerland.  The  ultimate  gain 
for  Germany  may  be  estimated  from  the  assertion  of  Professor 
Tholuck  that  never  were  there  so  many  pious  pastors  and 
zealous  laymen  to  be  found  amongst  Protestants  of  Germany 
as  during  the  first  forty  years  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Not  unnaturally  many  of  the  conservatives  amongst  the 
clergy'  bitterly  opposed  all  these  new  tendencies.  A  keen  feud 
broke  out  especially  between  Halle  and  Wittenberg.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  the  differences  between  the  parties  became  less 
marked,  and  some  of  Spener's  principles  have  won  universal 
sway  throughout  evangelical  Christendom.  Long  before  this 
an  inner  decay  of  the  Pietistic  system  itself  began  to  appear. 
Zinzendorf  said,  that  if  the  Pietists  had  remained  united  and 
strong,  the  Saviour  would  have  had  no  need  of  a  resuscitation 
of  the  Brethren's  Church. 

To  suppress  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  all  organic  ecclesias- 
tical life  other  than  the  Roman  Catholic  was  within  the  power 
of  the  unholy  alliance  of  the  House  of  Austria  and  the  Jesuits ; 
but  though  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  had  confirmed  them  in  their 
rigorously  tyrannical  rehgious  policy,  they  could  not  depriv?^ 
the  evangelicals  of  the  sorrowful  right  of  emigration.  Hence 
a  significant  body  of  emigrants  is  to  be  noted  as  proceeding 
thereafter  at  intervals  from  Bohemia  to  Silesia  and  Lusatia. 
In  1650  these  exiles  were  so  numerous  in  Dresden  as  to  re- 
ceive for  their  use  the  Johannis-Kirche.  Others  settled  at 
Wesgau  near  Barby.  The  Bohemian  colony  at  Zittau  in- 
creased in  numbers  remarkably.  A  Bohemian  congregation  was 
organized  at  Charselz  on  the  Spree,  and  another  at  Gebhards- 
dorf,  near  Messersdorf,  about  the  year  1670.  Though  their 
ritual  was  L-utheran,  it  proves  nothing  with  respect  to  their 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


7 


antecedents ;  for  what  other  uses  would  have  then  been  toler- 
ated in  strictly  orthodox  Saxony?  Similarly,  too,  in  the  first 
decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  several  Bohemian  families 
lived  at  Gerlachsheim,  between  Gorlitz  and  Messersdorf,  whose 
pastor  Augustine  Schulze  became  in  1728;  and  Bohemians  were 
to  be  found  about  the  same  time  at  Gross  Hennersdorf,  to 
whom  such  considerable  accessions  arrived,  that  when,  deprived 
in  1732  of  their  homes  at  this  place,  they  set  out  for  Berlin, 
their  numbers  amounted  to  about  five  hundred  persons. 

These  facts  have  no  unquestionably  direct  bearing  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  the  ancient  lands.  Yet 
indirectly  their  significance  is  considerable,  and  of  a  two- 
fold character.  If  the  adherents  of  the  other  confessions 
managed  to  so  preserve  a  secret  attachment  to  their  tra- 
ditional faith  and  usages  as  to  furnish  the  material  for  such 
emigrations  after  years  of  seemingly  successful  suppression, 
it  is  to  be  reasonably  supposed  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
members  of  the  Brethren's  Church  were  not  less  tenacious  of 
what  they  prized,  and  not  less  adroit  in  perpetuating  the  truth 
in  concealment.  And  in  the  second  place,  it  is  evident  that  the 
stream  of  emigration  which  later  set  in  from  Moravia  to  Herrn- 
hut  was  in  no  wise  anomalous  or  unique.  Rather,  like  the 
flight  of  the  Hviguenots  from  France,  the  exodus  of  the 
Schwenkfelder  from  Silesia,  and  the  exile  of  the  Salzburger 
from  their  southern  home,  it  was  a  characteristic  feature  of  the 
stern  necessities  of  that  illiberal  age. 

Furthermore  the  history  of  the  archbishopric  of  Salzburg 
well  illustrates  the  truth,  that  rigorous  persecution  does  not 
necessarily  involve  the  extirpation  of  an  intelligent  faith. 
Though  from  the  outset  its  rulers  stringently  and  energetically 
opposed  the  Reformation,  when  the  edict  of  Firmian  shut  up 
the  evangelicals  to  one  of  two  alternatives,  the  success  of  a 
secret  propagation  of  the  faith  was  demonstrated  in  that  30,000 
industrious  and  peaceful  citizens  chose  to  forsake  all  things 
rather  than  compromise  with  conscience.  If  Lollardy,  in  an 
age  before  the  printing  press  multiplied  copies  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, of  the  hymnals  and  of  catechisms,  had  vitality  enough  in 
spite  of  bitter  persecutions  to  survive  in  Scotland  to  such  an 
extent  that  Knox  claimed  the  Lollards  of  Ayrshire  as  the  fore- 
runners of  the  Scotch  Reformation,  it  would  be  setting  a  poor 
estimate  upon  the  quality  of  the  stalwart  Bohemian  Brethren, 


8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


to  believe  it  possible  for  them  to  utterly  and  altogether  vanish 
wathin  a  century  after  the  inception  of  the  Counter-Reforma- 
tion. In  a  matter  like  this,  even  absence  of  records  can  not 
well  be  counted  an  incontrovertible  argument  for  non-exist- 
ence of  facts,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case.  For  it  is  one 
thing  for  monarchs  and  cabinets  and  the  hierarchy  to  crush 
out  organic  congregational  hfe,  and  to  suppress  a  prohibited 
cultus  amongst  the  nobiHty,  and  quite  another  thing  to  extin- 
guish the  embers  of  a  cherished  faith  amongst  those  of  humbler 
walk,  if  intelligent  and  possessed  of  books.  Clergy  who  have 
propagated,  and  nobility  who  have  patronized  the  true  doctrine, 
may  be  tortured  and  entombed  in  perpetual  imprisonment  or 
furnished  with  the  fiery  chariot  of  martyrdom ;  yet  the  common 
man  will  long  find  means  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  most 
cunning  inquisitors,  by  reason  of  the  numbers  in  which  he 
exists  and  the  countenance  and  abetment  which  he  may  per- 
haps obtain  from  friendly  neighbors  who  are  not  utterly  with- 
out bowels  of  mercy,  even  though  perverts  to  the  domineering, 
persecuting  faith. 

Hence  a  student  of  history  readily  believes  that  insight  into 
the  not  merely  exceptional  is  afforded  by  the  narratives  that 
have  come  down  to  posterity  through  the  diHgence  of  a  pastor 
like  Augustin  Schulze,  and  of  Bohemian  refugees  like  Zacharias 
and  Tobias  Hirschel  and  John  Bittman,  and  of  Moravian  refu- 
gees like  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  and  Frederick  Neis- 
ser,  and  of  the  restlessly  indefatigable  itinerant  Christian  David, 
and  that  have  been  preserved  and  made  known  through  the 
providential  accident  of  the  connection  of  these  men  with  the 
Brethren's  congregations  at  Rixdorf  and  Herrnhut.  It  would 
seem  more  than  probable,  and  in  accord  with  human  nature, 
that  the  families  and  individuals  who  are  mentioned  by  these 
as  having  cherished  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Brethren 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  rather  furnished  instances  of  fidelity 
that  had  their  counterpart  elsewhere,  but  which  has  not  been 
chronicled  in  history  from  a  failure  to  attain  connection  later 
with  the  Brethren  whose  emigration  to  the  foot  of  the  Hutberg 
was  destined  by  God  to  once  more  bring  into  prominence  and 
world-wide  usefulness  the  organization  which  had  been  so  long 
and  so  thoroughly  tempered  by  persecution. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1756,  a  so-called  "Moravian  Synod" 
was  held  at  Herrnhut,  preparatory  to  a  General  Synod  of  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


9 


Church.  A  committee  of  nine  was  by  it  appointed,  to  draw  up 
Hsts  of  all  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  Moravian  and  Bohemian  ex- 
traction, secure  accounts  of  their  experiences  when  fleeing 
from  their  fatherland,  and  record  their  labors  in  behalf  of  the 
resuscitated  Unity.  Thus  sources  for  history  were  furnished 
which  Kolbing  used  in  writing  the  Memorial  Days,  and  his 
BischMiche  Ordination,  etc.  From  a  passage  in  the  Jungerhaus 
Diariinn  of  May  i,  1756,  in  conjunction  with  a  passage  in  Plitt's 
manuscript  History,  and  Neisser's  manuscript  Fasciculus,  it 
seems  that  at  this  time,  viz.  in  1756,  1014  members  were  living 
who  had  been  born  in  Moravia  or  were  of  Moravian  parentage, 
and  629  members  born  in  Bohemia  or  of  Bohemian  parentage — 
the  latter  residing  chiefly  in  Berlin  and  Rixdorf.  Zinzendorf 
himself  is  here  recorded  to  have  declared  that  up  to  this  time 
thirty-eight  brethren  and  forty-five  sisters  of  Moravian  extrac- 
tion had  departed  this  Hfe  after  serving  in  the  ministry  at  home 
or  in  mission  fields.  Plitt's  manuscript  and  Neisser's  Fascicu- 
lus indicated  that  three  hundred  and  thirteen  Moravians  and 
Bohemians  had  already  passed  away.  This  would  give  a  ^ 
total  of  nearly  2000  members  of  Bohemian-Moravian  birth  up 
to  1756,  not  reckoning  the  departed  to  whom  Zinzendorf  refers. 

It  is  known  that  Sj'nods  of  the  Polish  branch  of  the  Breth- 
ren's Unity  as  such  met  statedly  at  Lissa  until  1699;  and  that 
in  1710  the  Brethren  and  the  Reformed  met  at  Warsaw  in  a 
Union  Synod,  and  continued  to  hold  such  in  future.  In  the 
interval,  it  is  known,  Bishop  Jablonski  called  frequent  Synods 
to  strengthen  the  things  that  remained,  and  that  he  utilized 
his  position  as  court  preacher  in  Berlin  to  aid  the  Brethren  in 
Poland,  Russia,  and  Hungary  in  every  manner.  Doubtless  the 
Polish  Synods  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury must  have  endeavored  to  keep  track  of  their  Brethren 
who  secretly  held  to  the  faith  in  Moravia  and  Bohemia,  and 
must  have  endeavored  to  encourage  them.  Certain  it  is  that 
friendly  relations  were  early  maintained  between  the  resusci- 
tated Unity  and  the  old  PoHsh  congregations  of  the  Brethren. 

Unfortunately  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  with  accuracy  the 
complete  number  of  exiled  Moravians  and  Bohemians  who 
entered  into  connection  with  Zinzendorf  and  his  co-laborers.  It 
ii-  known  that  they  came  from  about  twenty  different  places 
in  Bohemia  and  from  about  eighteen  different  towns  and  vil- 
lages in  Moravia.    But  the  Fasciculus  of  George  Neisser,  which 


lO 


A  HISTORY  OF 


seems  to  be  just  such  a  list  and  appended  collection  of  memo- 
rabilia as  this  "Synod"  of  1756  called  for,  is  evidently  incom- 
plete. 

This  much  can  be  definitely  substantiated.  Just  as  in  Poland 
and  Polish  Prussia  there  3^et  remained  at  least  fifteen  parishes 
in  the  year  1715,  in  spite  of  every  catastrophe  and  the  repeated 
disasters  that  had  befallen  Lissa,  the  central  point  of  their  ac- 
tivity ;  and  just  as  these  were  an  element  of  sufficient  import- 
ance in  the  religious  life  of  those  lands  to  be  granted  repre- 
sentatives at  the  Union  Synod  at  Danzig  in  1718,  and  to  main- 
tain their  episcopate ;  so,  too,  up  to  the  same  date  in  Bohemia, 
around  Landskron  and  Leitomischl,  and  Hermanitz  and  Roth- 
wasser,  and  in  Moravia  around  Zerawic,  Fulneck,  Zauchten- 
thal,  Kunwalde,  and  Sehlen,  the  irrepressible  adherents  of  the 
Unity  of  the  Brethren  dared  the  stake  and  the  dungeon,  that 
they  might  serve  God  according  to  conscience  and  after  their 
fathers'  mode. 

The  Diary  of  the  congregation  in  Berlin  and  Rixdorf  for 
May,  1754,  reads :  "On  May  18  Brother  Hirschel  began  to 
draw  up  an  account  of  our  Bohemian  Congregation.  Several 
things  of  importance  appear  from  it. 

1.  That  the  most  of  our  members  originate  from  around 
Leitomischl  and  Lititz,  where  were  formerly  the  chief  seats 
of  the  Bohemian  Brethren. 

2.  That  their  awakening  took  place  about  the  year  1720,  and 
was  therefore  contemporaneous  with  the  awakening  in  Mo- 
ravia. 

3.  That  they  maintained  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour  and 
intelligence  concerning  the  Brethren's  Unity  throughout  the 
entire  seventeenth  century  by  the  traditions  of  their  forefathers 
which  they  passed  on  to  their  descendants. 

4.  Their  first  connection  with  the  Moravian  Brethren  at 
Herrnhut  was  through  visits  of  Christian  David  and  Christo- 
pher Demuth  in  1726  and  especially  through  that  of  Melchior 
Nitschmann  in  1728." 

Jacob  and  John  Pechatschek,  father  and  son,  John  Schall- 
man,  Wenzel  Kleych  and  his  extensive  colporteur  work  from 
1708  on,  are  not  to  be  forgotten;  nor  the  thorough  revival  in 
the  village  of  Hermanitz  and  its  vicinity  from  the  years  1720- 
1722,  quite  independent  indeed  of  the  similar  revival  in  the 
Moravian  Kuhlcindl,  and  followed  by  such  cruel  persecution 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


that  after  enduring  the  knout  the  track  of  the  confessors  going 
homeward  from  the  castle  was  to  be  traced  by  the  blood  th?.t 
dripped  from  them. 

Then  in  Moravia,  the  Kutschera  family  of  Zerawic;  and  the 
Schneiders  of  Zauchenthal — with  their  venerable  sire,  aged 
Martin,  the  contemporary  of  Comenius,  who  frequently  had 
services,  including  the  Lord's  Supper,  at  his  house,  when  a 
clergyman  came  stealthily  from  the  Brethren's  parish  of  Skalic, 
in  Hungary,  and  his  grandson,  Samuel  Schneider,  who  often 
himself  preached,  and  who  on  his  death-bed  in  1710,  after  re- 
pulsing his  offer  of  the  viaticum  respectfully  but  firmly,  with 
a  glorious  testimony  of  assured  salvation,  won  from  the  Rom- 
ish priest  the  confession,  "Let  my  soul  strive  after  a  death  such 
as  that  of  this  righteous  man."  And  in  fellowship  with  the 
Schneiders  were  the  Kunz  and  Beyer  and  Stach  and  Zeisberger 
and  Tanneberger  families  of  Zauchtenthal,  and  the  Jaeschke 
and  Neisser  families  of  Sehlen  and  Seitendorf,  and  the  Gras- 
mann  family  of  Senftleben,  and  the  Nitschmanns  of  Kunwalde. 
But  there  were  others  in  both  lands  not  so  well  known.  For 
example,  the  memoir  of  Thomas  Piesch,  born  at  Birlitz  in  Sile- 
sia in  1702,  and  later  active  in  England,  states  that  his  father 
made  it  his  business  to  take  evangelical  books  thence  into 
Moravia,  and  was  arrested  and  persecuted  therefor.  It  also 
appears  from  this  memoir  that  he  had  a  connection  with  the 
well-known  Schneider  family.  Persecution  could  not  efifectn- 
ally  stamp  out  Bible  reading  and  secret  conventicles.  Born  in 
1675,  at  Schonau  in  Moravia,  from  youth  up  George  Haber- 
land  was  diligent  in  reading  the  Scriptures.  Rosina  Kisselowa, 
m.  n.  Hirschel,  of  Lippstadt  in  Bohemia,  relates  that  she  often 
heard  of  the  so-called  Waldenses  (a  misnomer  often  anciently 
applied  to  the  Bohemian  Brethren),  who  held  their  services 
and  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  surrounding  villages. 
Paul  Wottmar  was  born  in  Bohemia  on  June  28,  1705.  His 
ancestors  had  uninterruptedly  maintained  the  faith  and  usages 
of  the  Brethren's  Unity  in  secret,  and  in  childhood  implanted 
the  truth  in  him.  He  died  in  Berlin  in  1755.  Tobias  Kutschera 
was  born  in  Moravia  in  1671.  His  parents  were  both  de- 
scended from  members  of  the  old  Unity,  his  mother  being  a 
granddaughter  of  a  presbyter  of  the  Church  and  his  father's 
father  also  a  minister,  being  pastor  at  Zerawic,  where  the  Synod 
of  1616  assembled.    Here,  moreover  during  the  days  of  Tobias 


12 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Kutscliera  himself,  a  meeting-house  of  the  Brethren  still  stood. 
As  late  as  1680  services  of  the  Brethren  were  still  openly  held 
in  this  part  of  Moravia  (so  says  his  memoir).  In  the  house  of 
his  father  the  Brethren  later  had  worship  three  times  ever) 
Sunday.  But  the  persecution  became  more  severe  and  public 
meetings  were  stopped.  The  memoir  of  old  father  David 
Nitschmann  of  Zauchtenthal,  the  uncle  of  the  Bishop,  who  was 
born  in  1676,  records  that  his  father  John  held  services  in  his 
own  house  every  Sunday,  when  the  rooms  were  all  so  full  that 
there  were  not  seats  for  all  the  people.  They  sang  hymns 
from  the  old  Brethren's  Hymn-book,  and  read  whatever  ser- 
mons they  had  on  hand.  When  a  new  priest  came,  named 
Schlimman,  who  dealt  with  them  severely,  they  still  main- 
tained their  worship — but  with  great  secrecy.  This  must  have 
been  before  1692,  for  about  that  year  the  old  parents  died. 
George  Pakota,  born  at  Steinern  Sedlitz,  near  Leitomischl, 
in  1699,  relates  that  his  parents  were  loyal  adherents  of  the 
Brethren's  Church ;  that  when  he  was  a  child  his  father  often 
told  him  of  the  evangelical  preachers  who  were  formerly  in 
Bohemia,  sighing  over  the  tale  of  their  suppression.  Later  his 
father  read  to  him  out  of  the  New  Testament  and  out  of  a 
book  by  John  Hus,  from  which  he  himself  derived  a  perma- 
nent blessing. 

Why  did  these  at  all  remain  in  the  lands  of  narrow  bigotry 
and  dreadful  oppression?  It  is  recorded  that  they  often  con- 
templated emigration,  the  more  so  because  their  fathers  had 
frequently  spoken  of  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  religion  to 
be  enjoyed  when  the  Lord  should  lead  them  out  of  their  "Baby- 
lonian captivity."  But  the  elusive  expectation  of  better  times, 
like  a  mirage  on  their  horizon,  and  the  dangers  attendant 
upon  attempted  but  detected  and  arrested  flight,  and  the  not 
unnatural  love  of  the  beautiful  fatherland,  and  a  shrinking  from 
the  surrender  of  all  properly  and  the  loss  of  all  certain  oppor- 
tunity to  earn  a  livelihood,  involved  in  the  venture,  from  the 
sure  confiscation  of  everything  which  they  could  not  carry 
with  them,  served  as  not  inexcusably  deterrent  arguments. 
Meantime,  however,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  sermons 
and  other  evangelical  literature,  and  family  worship  and  the 
careful  training  of  their  children  in  the  traditional  way,  did  not 
cease.    And  with  it  all,  dawn  was  nearer  than  they  dreamed. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


13 


God  saw  fit  to  search  out  two  extremes  of  society  for  the 
chief  agents  in  the  fulfilhiient  of  the  touching  prayer  of  Come- 
nius,  a  quondam  shepherd  and  carpenter,  and  a  noble  who  was 
even  more  princely  in  character  than  in  hereditary  rank.  It 
was  the  former  who  first  came  into  touch  with  the  remnant  of 
the  Brethren,  Christian  David,  born  of  Roman  Catholic  parents 
at  Senftleben,  between  the  Carpathians  that  separate  Moravia 
and  Hungary,  not  far  from  Neutitschein,  and  the  Kuhlandl, 
memorable  as  the  scene  of  the  first  scholastic  labors  of  Come- 
nius.  Early  showing  great  zeal  for  the  observances  required 
by  the  priests,  and  indefatigable  in  his  adoration  of  pictures 
of  the  Virgin,  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  he  was  wont  to  burn 
with  devotion  Uke  a  stove.  The  family  with  which  he  was  ap- 
prenticed at  Holeschau  were  in  secret  evangelical,  and  taught 
him  to  lose  his  faith  in  the  pictures  of  the  saints  and  in  pil- 
grimages, and  the  fidelity  of  certain  Protestants  who  were 
thrown  into  a  prison  for  their  faith's  sake,  also  made  a  great 
impression  on  his  mind.  But  he  had  been  completely  torn 
away  from  his  moorings.  At  length,  in  1710,  he  came  into  the 
possession  of  a  Bible,  a  book  about  which  he  had  heard,  but 
which  he  had  never  yet  seen.  That  he  diligently  searched  it 
is  proved  by  his  subsequent  style  of  speech,  and  by  his  hand- 
writing which  imitated  the  printed  letters  of  the  German  Bible. 
The  result  of  his  searchings  determined  him  to  seek  fellowship 
with  some  evangelical  body  of  believers.  Hence  he  set  out 
on  his  travels  throughout  Hungary,  Austria,  Bohemia,  Silesia, 
Saxony,  and  Brandenburg.  At  various  places  the  Lutheran 
pastors  refused  his  application  to  be  received  into  their  Church, 
for  fear  of  Catholic  persecutors ;  in  others  he  was  himself  so 
shocked  at  the  loose  morals  of  their  members  that  he  had  no 
desire  for  fellowship  with  them.  Fearful  distress  of  mind  en- 
sued, in  the  midst  of  which  he  enlisted  in  the  army  which 
Frederick  of  Brandenburg  was  collecting  for  the  war  against 
Charles  XH  of  Sweden,  thinking  that  he  would  have  more 
leisure  to  serve  Christ  as  a  soldier  than  when  working  at  his 
trade.  Pastor  Schmidt,  of  Berlin,  furthermore  received  him 
into  the  Lutheran  Church  before  the  army  left  the  city.  After 
having  participated  in  the  siege  of  Stralsund,  and  its  capture 
on  December  12,  1715,  he  was  thankful  to  obtain  his  discharge, 
having  been  sadly  deceived  in  his  expectations  about  the 
opportunities  of  growing  in  Christian  knowledge  as  a  soldier. 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Whilst  proceeding  afterwards  to  Breslau,  he  fell  seriously  ill, 
but  in  time  managed  to  reach  that  city.  Here  his  illness  again 
came  on  him,  and  he  was  taken  to  the  hospital.  After  his  re- 
covery he  worked  at  his  trade,  having  however  a  very  uncom- 
fortable time  of  it,  owing  to  the  persecutions  of  the  Jesuits. 
These  varied  experiences  all  proved  of  educational  value.  At 
Gorlitz  he  next  learnt  to  know  Melchior  Schaefi'er,  the  pastor 
of  Holy  Trinity  Church,  and  his  friend  John  Andrew  Rothe, 
a  candidate  of  theology,  as  also  John  Christopher  Schwedler, 
of  Nieder-Wiese.  The  latter  was  particularly  interested  in  the 
lot  of  those  who  came  to  his  Church  from  Roman  Catholic  sec- 
tions of  country.  This  was  in  the  year  1717.  Through  his  in- 
tercourse with  these  men  Christian  David  at  last  found  the 
assurance  of  salvation  which  he  had  been  so  long  seeking. 
And  with  it  he  felt  an  inner  call  to  evangehstic  work.  Across 
the  Austrian  border  there  were  many  of  his  countrymen,  he 
knew,  as  little  satisfied  with  the  superstitions  of  Rome  as  he 
had  himself  been.  Was  he  not  under  obligation  to  bring  them 
to  a  knowledge  of  that  truth  which  he  had  himself  found  so 
precious  ? 

Accordingly,  in  this  same  year,  1717,  he  made  a  first  visit  to 
his  fatherland.  In  the  course  of  his  fourth  visit,  in  1719,  he 
came  to  Sehlen,  near  Neutitschein,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  five  brothers  Neisser.  Perceiving  the  fervor 
and  power  of  this  man  who  was  but  a  layman,  they  became 
filled  with  a  longing  for  a  home  in  a  land  where  there  were 
doubtless  many  such  as  he,  and  where  the  pastors,  it  was  to 
be  stipposed,  could  clear  up  all  their  difficulties  and  satisfy  all 
the  hunger  of  their  souls.  It  was  a  peculiar  coincidence  that 
their  grandfather,  George  Jaeschke.  whose  family  had  belonged 
to  the  Unity  since  the  15th  century,  had  been  a  most  godly 
man,  a  veritable  patriarch  amongst  the  remnant  of  Brethren 
who  cherished  the  past  in  secret,  and  that  on  his  death-bed  he 
had  uttered  almost  prophetic  words  concerning  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Brethren's  Unity.  The  result  of  this  intercourse 
was  that  the  Neissers  began  to  think  seriously  of  emigrating, 
and  on  Christian  David's  third  visit  they  told  him  that  they 
were  very  anxious  to  find  a  refuge  in  a  Protestant  country. 
He  therefore  promised  to  do  what  he  could,  and  directed  them 
to  pastors  Steinmetz,  Muthmann  and  Sassadius,  of  Teschen. 
Returning  to  Gorlitz.  he  made  known  the  wish  of  the  Neissers 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


15 


to  Schaeft'er  and  other  friends.  But  time  passed  before  it 
could  be  realized.  Then  came,  however,  God's  time.  In  the 
spring  of  1722  a  young  Saxon  noble  and  government  official, 
Count  Nicholas  Louis  von  Zinzendorf,  in  the  course  of  a  con- 
versation with  Rothe,  his  future  parish  minister,  heard  of 
Christian  David  and  of  his  efforts  to  find  an  asylum  for  a  fev/ 
Moravians.  The  Count  became  interested,  and  sent  for  Chris- 
tian David,  who  gave  a  full  account  of  his  visits  to  Moravia. 
Zinzendorf  promised  to  find  a  place  for  the  Neissers,  where 
they  could  worship  God  in  peace;  and  till  he  should  succeed 
in  doing  this,  he  offered  to  receive  them  on  his  own  estate, 
without  intending  to  keep  them  there.  He  first  of  all  wrote 
to  others,  especially  to  Count  Reuss  of  Kostritz,  and  when  he 
found  no  suitable  spot,  desired  to  lease  a  domain  near  Ebers- 
dorf,  and  let  them  settle  on  that.  But  God  overruled  these 
plans,  and  caused  the  few  intending  refugees  to  be  forever 
linked  to  his  own  career. 

Immediately  on  receiving  the  Count's  promise.  Christian 
David  visited  Moravia,  and  arrived  at  Sehlen  on  Whit- 
Monday,  May  25,  1722.  Augustine  and  Jacob  Neisser  at 
once  resolved  to  emigrate,  abandoning  home  and  all  worldly 
goods,  but  the  others  preferred  to  wait  until  they  received 
news  of  the  successful  issue  of  the  undertaking  of  these  pio- 
neers. Their  mother  had  fainted  when  told  what  was  in  con- 
templation. Nevertheless  at  10  oclock,  on  the  next  Wednesday 
night,  the  two  brave  brothers,  with  their  wives  and  children,  viz.,- 
a  son  six  years  old,  a  daughter  three  years  old  and  twins 
■of  twelve  weeks,  together  with  Michael  Jaeschke  and  Martha 
Neisser,  niece  of  Augustine's  wife,  ten  souls  in  all,  set  out  from 
Sehlen  secretly,  led  by  Christian  David,  to  seek  the  God  of 
their  fathers  in  a  new  land.  Traveling  all  night  along  by- 
ways, they  crossed  the  Silesian  frontier,  and  followed  the  Oder 
to  Nieder-Wiese,  where  they  were  welcomed  by  pastor  Schwed- 
ler.  Thence  they  crossed  into  Saxony.  At  Leube  the  Von 
Schweinitz  family  hospitably  entertained  them,  and  here  they 
met  Rothe,  their  future  pastor.  At  G5rlitz  the  families  were 
left  with  pastor  Schaeffer.  Zinzendorf  being  at  Dresden,  the 
two  Neissers  and  Christian  David  on  the  8th  of  June  visited 
Gross  Hennersdorf  to  interview  Lady  Gersdorf,  Zinzen- 
dorf's  grandmother.  She  received  them  coldly  and  de- 
clined to  have  anything  to  do  with  them  ;  but  at  the  earnest  pleas 


i6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  the  family  tutor,  Marche,  she  was  however  finally  induced  to 
send  them  to  Berthelsdorf  and  put  them  under  the  care  of  Heitz, 
the  steward  of  Zinzendorf 's  estate.  Thus  the  first  representa  • 
\  tives  of  the  Church  had  reached  the  ground  on  which  its  resusci  ■ 
tation  was  destined  to  be  efi'ected. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


17 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  ANTECEDENTS  AND  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COUNT  ZINZENDORF. 

In  the  distant  century  that  witnessed  the  decline  of  the 
Hohenstauffen  and  the  rise  of  the  Hapsburger,  a  grim  old 
castle  in  Austria  cradled  the  ancestors  of  the  man  who  should 
offer  succor  to  refugees  from  Austrian  tyranny  and  bigotry 
five  hundred  years  later.  The  Reformation  brought  them,  Hke 
many  other  families  of  distinction,  into  the  valley  of  decision, 
and  during  the  lifetime  of  the  great  Reformer  one  branch  re- 
nounced the  corruptions  and  superstitions  of  Rome.  In  con- 
sequence Count  Maximilian  Erasmus  von  Zinzendorf  had  to 
leave  his  ancestral  home  for  the  sake  of  conscience.  His  place 
of  refuge  was  Oberberg,  near  Nuremberg,  where  he  died  in 
1672.  His  three  daughters  formed  alliances  with  the  Counts 
of  Orthenburg  and  Pollheim  and  Castell,  Franconian  nobles, 
whilst  his  two  sons  entered  the  service  of  the  Saxon  Elector, 
the  one  dying  childless  in  1718  as  a  Saxon  field-marshall,  and 
the  other,  the  younger,  enjoying  a  brief  career  as  a  minister 
of  state  under  the  Electors  John  George  the  Fourth  and  Augus- 
tus the  Second.  This  second  son,  George  Louis,  won  as  his 
second  wife  Charlotte  Justina  von  Gersdorf,  a  lady  equally  dis- 
tinguished for  her  noble  lineage.  Her  father,  Nicholas  von 
Gersdorf,  was  Prefect  of  Upper  Lusatia,  and  an  ancestor  of 
the  same  name  had  held  Bautzen  for  the  Bohemian  King 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Thirty  Years"  War.  Well  mated  in  theii" 
birth,  George  Louis  von  Zinzendorf  and  Charlotte  Justina  were 
kindred  in  character.  Personal  friends  of  Spener,  they  were  in 
full  sympathy  with  his  devout  purposes ;  an  ecclesiola  was  estab- 
lished in  their  home  at  Dresden,  and  they  selected  the  father 
of  Pietism  as  a  sponsor  for  their  son,  Nicholas  Louis,  born  on 
May  26,  1700. 

From  the  first  peculiar  experiences  shaped  the  character  and 
influenced  the  future  of  the  boy,  fashioning  him  into  an  instru- 
3 


i8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ment  for  extraordinary  work.  When  he  was  only  six  weeks 
old  he  lost  his  father  by  consumption.  Next  year  the  young 
widow  returned  to  the  home  of  her  family,  the  castle  of  Gross- 
Hennersdorf,  in  Upper  Lusatia,  once  a  hunting  lodge  of  the 
Bohemian  kings.  Here  her  mother  in  turn  became  a  widow 
in  Atigust,  1702.  Then  in  1704  Lady  Zinzendorf  married  again, 
her  second  husband  being  the  Prussian  INIarshall  von  Nazmer. 
Thenceforth  Berlin  became  her  home,  and  she  saw  compara- 
tively little  of  her  son.  The  boy,  on  whose  head  Spener  had 
laid  his  hands  in  anticipation  setting  him  apart  for  the  fur- 
therance of  Christ's  kingdom,  became  a  ward  of  his  grand- 
mother and  his  aunt  Henrietta,  now  a  young  woman  of  twenty. 

Lady  Henrietta  Catharine  Gersdorf,  the  grandmother  of 
Nicholas  Louis,  was  a  lady  of  exceptional  parts,  and  was  dis- 
tmguished  for  firmness  of  character.  On  one  occasion  when 
it  was  necessary  for  her  to  undergo  the  operation  of  trepan- 
ning, rather  than  cause  her  husband  any  anxiety  she  quietly 
withdrew  from  the  official  life  of  Dresden  to  their  country 
home,  submitted  to  the  skill  of  the  surgeon,  and  let  him  know 
what  had  been  done  only  on  her  recovery.  A  highly  talented 
and  cultured  lady,  a  poetess  and  proficient  in  music  and  paint- 
ing, she  occupied  a  position  of  wide  influence  through  her  ex- 
tensive circle  of  acquaintances  and  correspondents  in  all  parts 
of  the  empire.  Personally  devout,  her  doors  were  thrown  open 
for  the  meetings  of  an  ccclcsiola.  Spener,  Francke,  Canstein, 
and  especially  Anton  were  her  frequent  guests.  Yet  she  did 
not  champion  their  movement  to  the  exclusion  of  an  appre- 
ciation of  earnestness  and  genuine  service  of  Christ  amongst 
the  adherents  of  the  school  of  Wittenberg.  Her  daughter 
Henrietta,  a  lively  and  sanguine  young  woman,  had  inherited 
many  of  her  characteristics.  Naturally,  therefore,  at  an  early 
age  they  gave  careful  attention  to  the  religious  training  of 
their  young  charge ;  and  the  results  of  his  intimacy  with  these 
ladies  were  very  early  manifested  in  the  delicacy  and  tender- 
ness of  his  nature.  Love  to  Jesus  began  to  show  with  the  first 
awakening  of  his  self-consciousness,  and  though  when  only 
nine  years  of  age  he  was  precociously  tormented  with  doubts 
and  with  a  sense  of  his  own  depravity,  his  marvelous  appre- 
hension of  the  love  of  Jesus  proved  savingly  victorious. 

When  in  the  year  1706  the  Swedes  overwhelmed  Saxony,  a 
detachment  of  their  soldiers  came  to  Hennersdorf  to  demand 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


19 


supplies.  Entering  into  the  castle,  they  pressed  into  the  room 
where  the  young  Count  was  engaged  in  his  customary  devo- 
tions. The  sight  of  this  child  and  the  freedom  with  which  he 
earnestly  delivered  his  exhortations  so  impressed  them,  that 
they  almost  forgot  the  purpose  of  their  hostile  visit. 

Though  he  inherited  from  his  father  a  delicate  constitution, 
he  had  an  ardor  and  a  powerful  will  that  rapidly  carried  him 
through  the  tasks  set  by  his  tutors — Edeling,  Kriebel  and  Hof- 
mann.  If  a  too  vivid  imagination  and  volatility  and  impatient 
irrepressibility  were  likely  to  affect  his  scholarship  unfavorably, 
to  offset  these  he  possessed  wonderful  powers  of  concentra- 
tion, ready  apprehension,  a  reliable  memory,  sound  judgment, 
exactness  of  expression,  and  a  capacity  for  deep  reflection. 

His  relatives  could  not  help  noting  his  high  endowments  and 
destined  him  for  distinguished  office  in  the  state.  For  this 
purpose  his  uncle  and  guardian  would  have  preferred  the 
course  of  training  usvial  in  the  case  of  young  noblemen,  but 
yielded  to  the  representations  of  his  mother  and  grandmother, 
who  desired  him  to  be  placed  under  positively  Christian  influ- 
ences in  Francke's  Paedagogium  at  Halle.  This  institution  was 
now  at  its  zenith.  Its  founder  was  still  at  the  head^  and  was 
assisted  by  a  corps  of  able  and  like-minded  men. 

This  school  young  Zinzendorf  accordingly  entered  at  the 
early  age  of  ten,  his  well-intentioned  grandmother  giving  him 
a  doubtful  recommendation  as  "a  very  sharp  and  intelligent 
youth  who  must  be  held  in  with  a  tight  rein,  for  fear  of  his 
becoming  proud  and  presuming  too  much  on  his  abilities."  It 
brought  no  undue  mitigation  of  the  severity  which  character- 
ized the  paedagogics  of  that  age.  His  tutors,  Hofmann  and 
Crisenius,  with  whom  he  Hved  until  his  fourteenth  year,  in- 
delibly impressed  upon  his  memory  their  senseless  harshness— 
to  use  no  stronger  term.  Moreover,  the  uncouth  horse-play 
of  his  comrades  caused  the  first  five  years  of  his  stay  at  Halle 
tc  be  a  decidedly  unhappy  period.  Nevertheless  he  managed 
to  make  satisfactory  progress  in  his  studies,  especially  in  Latin 
and  French,  acquiring  sufficient  facility  in  the  former  to  de- 
liver extemporaneous  speeches  by  his  sixteenth  year.  Mean- 
time the  unfeigned  sincerity  of  his  personal  piety  showed  itself 
in  repeated  efforts  to  prove  helpful  to  his  comrades  in  bring- 
ing them  to  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  Christ.  Seven  little 
associations  for  prayer  and  edification  were  formed  by  him 


20 


A  HISTORY  OF 


during  these  school  days,  some  unattended  with  success  but 
some  of  permanent  significance  and  all  of  them  manifesting  the 
natural  bent  of  the  lad.  With  four  comrades  in  particular  he 
entered  into  closer  relations — Von  Sohlenthal,  Wallbaum,  Von 
Tonz  and  De  Watteville — covenanting  that  they  would  in  after 
life  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  especially  in 
behalf  of  those  for  whom  no  one  else  cared.  Reports  from  the 
Malabar  mission  in  1714  appear  to  have  been  influential  in 
connection  with  this  resolution.  They  did  not  indeed  expect 
to  accomplish  this  by  their  own  personal  efforts,  but  hoped  to 
play  the  part  of  patrons  of  missions,  in  imitation  of  Baron 
Canstein.  Later  the  idea  developed  into  the  conception  of  a 
spiritual  knighthood,  their  fraternity  being  known  by  turns  as 
"Slaves  of  Virtue"  and  "Confessors  of  Christ"  and  finally  as 
the  "Order  of  the  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed." 

But  Zinzendorf's  guardian,  Count  Otto  Christian,  had  no 
notion  that  the  gifted  scion  of  their  house  should  become  a 
mere  religious  enthusiast.  Hence  at  sixteen  he  caused  him  to 
be  transferred  to  the  University  of  Wittenberg,  where  Francke's 
pecuHarities  were  stoutly  opposed.  Crisenius  moreover  re- 
ceived most  precise  instructions  respecting  the  conduct  and 
the  studies  of  his  ward.  With  military  precision  the  hours 
were  mapped  out — so  many  to  be  devoted  to  law,  to  the 
fencing-hall,  the  riding-school  and  the  dancing-master.  In 
dutiful  obedience  Zinzendorf  accepted  this  curriculum,  but 
devoted  his  free  time  to  the  study  of  theology,  philosophy  and 
natural  science,  though  scrupulously  refraining  from  attend- 
ance at  lectures  in  the  forbidden  branches.  As  at  Halle,  he 
stood  very  much  alone.  In  the  course  of  time  his  Hallensian 
piejudices  against  the  divines  at  Wittenberg  wore  oflf,  as  inti- 
mate knowledge  disclosed  the  true  worth  of  these  men.  Then 
it  was  in  accordance  with  his  chivalrous  spirit  and  innate  syn- 
cretism to  seek  single-handed  to  heal  the  breach  between  Halle 
and  Wittenberg.  He  wrote  letters  to  Drs.  Francke  and  Lange 
and  Anton  with  this  end  in  view,  and  did  succeed  in  bringing 
about  a  colloquy  at  Merseburg  between  Francke  and  Superin- 
tendent Loscher  of  Dresden,  with  no  practical  result.  He 
himself  was  to  have  conducted  Dr.  Wernsdorf  of  Wittenberg 
to  Halle  in  order  to  introduce  him  to  Francke,  when  his  tutor 
shabbily  spoilt  his  plan  by  writing  to  Madame  Nazmer  and 
putting  his  alleged  ambition  and  presumption  in  so  unfavorable 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


21 


a  light  as  to  call  forth  a  positive  injunction  on  her  part,  a 
prohibition  which  a  dutiful  son  was  compelled  to  heed. 

In  the  spring  of  1719  it  was  decided  in  the  family  councils 
that  Zinzendorf's  legal  studies  could  now  be  best  pursued  in 
the  most  famous  foreign  schools,  and  the  finish  be  given  to  his 
education  by  an  extensive  foreign  tour,  as  was  the  mode  for 
young  noblemen.  Accompanied  by  his  new  tutor,  Riederer, 
and  for  a  time  also  by  his  elder  half-brother,  Count  Frederick 
Christian,  after  visiting  his  mother  and  bidding  farewell  to  his 
grandmother,  he  proceeded  by  way  of  Dresden,  Leipsic, 
Eisenach  and  Frankfort-on-the-Main  to  Mayence,  Utrecht 
being  his  first  destination.  It  was  during  this  tour  that  the 
sight  of  an  Ecce  Homo  in  the  picture  gallery  at  Diisseldorf 
deepened  and  developed  the  determination  formed  in  child- 
hood, to  devote  his  life  to  the  service  of  Christ.  Here  and  at 
Amsterdam,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Prince  of 
Nassau  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  formed  a  life-friendship 
with  Count  Henry  24th  Reuss,  he  learnt  to  appreciate  the 
good  in  the  position  of  the  Reformed  Church.  The  closing 
days  of  the  year  found  him  in  Paris,  and  the  winter  was  spent 
amid  the  courtly  scenes  of  the  gay  capital.  The  mother  of  the 
Regent,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  took  a  special  fancy  to  him,  and 
he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Cardinal  Noailles  and  the 
appellant  bishops.  But  the  temptations  of  his  situation  had  no 
allurement;  the  rather  did  the  hollow  unreality  of  pomp  and 
pleasure  disclose  itself.  Leaving  Paris  at  the  end  of  April, 
Basel,  Zurich  and  the  Black  Forest  were  in  turn  enjoyed,  and 
his  aunts,  the  Countesses  of  Pollheim  and  Castell,  visited. 

During  this  visit  in  Franconia  an  episode  transpired  which 
had  an  important  influence  upon  his  future  views  of  married 
life. 

With  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Countess  of  Castell,  Theo- 
dora, young  Zinzendorf  fell  in  love.  In  January,  1721,  he  in- 
formed her  mother  of  his  feelings,  and  she  was  entirely  satisfied. 
But  his  cousin  did  not  really  reciprocate  his  attachment,  and 
only  half  yielded  to  the  persuasions  of  her  mother  in  his  behalf. 
He  himself,  however,  did  not  perceive  this,  and  hastened  to 
Hennersdorf  to  gain  his  grandmother's  consent  to  their  be- 
trothal. This  obtained,  he  hurried  back  to  Castell.  On  the 
way  thither  his  carriage  met  with  an  accident  at  the  River 
Elster.    This  compelled  him  to  stop  at  the  neighboring  estate, 


22 


A  HISTORY  OF 


which  happened  to  be  the  home  of  his  friend,  Count  Reuss. 
By  a  strange  coincidence  the  latter  had  been  secretly  desirous 
to  marry  Theodora  Castell,  but  had  refrained  from  overtures 
when  he  heard  of  Zinzendorf's  intentions.  In  the  course  of 
conversation  concerning  his  expected  marriage,  when  the  latter 
discovered  the  state  of  his  friend's  heart,  he  adopted  a  sudden 
and  romantic  resolution.  He  declared  himself  willing  to  relin- 
quish Theodora  to  his  friend,  if  it  proved  a  fact  that  her  secret 
preference  was  for  him.  Reuss  accepted  the  magnanimous 
offer,  and  the  two  friends  proceeded  to  Castell.  To  Zinzen- 
dorf's dismay,  he  then  learnt  that  his  cousin  had  never  really 
loved  him.  Reuss  and  Theodora  were  betrothed  on  the  ninth 
of  March.  By  this  time  Zinzendorf  had  so  mastered  his  feel- 
ings as  to  be  at  peace,  and  on  this  interesting  occasion  offered 
a  touching  prayer  in  behalf  of  the  betrothed. 

Unquestionably  this  experience  helped  to  develop  his  char- 
I  acter,  deepening  his  self-denial.  Moreover  by  giving  a  bias 
to  his  mind  in  connection  with  marriage  and  the  claims  of 
Christ's  service  in  relation  to  family  life,  it  contributed  towards 
his  adoption  of  those  peculiar  principles  respecting  family 
life  in  religious  communities,  which  for  a  long  time  marked 
the  Brethren's  Church. 

On  his  return  to  Hennersdorf,  shortly  before  he  became  of 
age,  Zinzendorf  found  changes  in  the  home  of  his  boyhood. 
Lady  Gersdorf,  his  grandmother,  was  now  in  the  seventies, 
enjoying  retirement  with  her  sister,  Lady  von  Mausebach,  as 
her  companion.  Her  daughter  Henrietta,  still  unmarried, 
administered  the  estates  of  Hennersdorf  and  Berthelsdorf  with 
masculine  firmness.  Two  daughters  of  privy  councillor  Gottlob 
von  Gersdorf  were  also  members  of  the  household,  and  with 
them  their  tutor.  Christian  Gottfried  Marche.  An  orphanage 
and  a  home  for  the  poor  had  been  founded  at  Hennersdorf. 
An  ccclesiola  was  still  maintained,  but  an  intimacy  had  also 
been  established  with  Pastor  John  Christian  Schwedler  of  the 
Silesian  frontier  parish  of  Nieder-Wiese,  though  a  Witten- 
berger,  and  with  Pastor  Melchior  SchaefFer  of  the  cloister 
church  at  Gorlitz,  and  with  his  friend  John  Andrew  Rothe,  a 
candidate  of  theology  and  at  present  a  tutor  in  the  Von 
Schweinitz  family  at  Leube. 

In  autunm,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  his  grandmother, 
though  his  own  tastes  and  inclinations  were  far  otherwise, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


23 


Zinzendorf  at  length  entered  upon  the  public  career  which  lay 
open  to  one  of  his  rank,  becoming  first  of  all  a  councillor  and 
justiciary  in  the  service  of  the  electoral  government.  As  such 
in  Dresden  he  everywhere  maintained  the  consistently  out- 
spoken Christian  course  which  had  distinguished  him  hitherto, 
■in  spite  of  the  ridicule  it  drew  down  at  the  irreHgious  court 
of  Augustus  the  Strong.  But  his  present  ambition  was  to 
secure  an  estate  which  he  might  make  the  center  of  an  influence 
in  Lusatia  like  that  which  went  forth  from  Halle,  and  there- 
fore he  purchased  Berthelsdorf  from  his  grandmother  in 
April,  1722.  This  village  had  existed  as  a  separate  parish  since 
the  year  1346,  when  it  formed  part  of  the  diocese  of  Lobau. 
During  the  negotiation  of  the  sale  the  pastor,  John  Horn,  died 
from  a  stroke,  and  Zinzendorf  secured  Rothe  in  his  place,  a 
man  whose  disposition  and  talents  gave  promise  of  hearty 
cooperation.  Though  a  number  of  years  had  transpired  since 
his  leaving  the  University  of  Leipsic,  conscientious  scruples 
with  regard  to  his  own  fitness  for  the  pastoral  office  had  hitherto 
caused  him  to  avoid  a  call  to  any  parish.  For  several  years 
he  had  filled  the  pulpit  of  Trinity  Church  in  Gorlitz  with  great 
acceptance.  As  manager  of  his  new  property  Zinzendorf 
appointed  John  George  Heitz,  a  Swiss,  formerly  steward  of  his 
aunt  the  Countess  of  Pollheim.  In  his  case  also  the  earnest 
and  outspoken  character  of  his  religious  life  was  a  chief  recom- 
mendation. 

Finally  on  the  7th  of  September  a  most  important  step  was 
taken  by  Zinzendorf  in  connection  with  his  plans,  his  marriage 
with  Countess  Erdmuth  Dorothy  Reuss,  the  sister  of  hi"; 
friend  Count  Henry.  She  was  equally  devoted  with  himself  to 
the  furtherance  of  Pietistic  institutions,  Ebersdorf  being  in  con- 
nection with  Halle,  and  was  fully  in  sympathy  with  his  disin- 
terested designs.  To  her  at  the  time  of  their  marriage  he 
made  over  his  entire  possessions  in  a  formal  and  legal  docu- 
ment— purely  from  a  chivalrous  spirit  of  devotion,  but  as  the 
event  proved,  providentially.  After  their  tour  the  yotmg 
couple  made  their  home  in  apartments  in  Dresden,  whilst  Heitz 
commenced  the  erection  of  a  mansion  for  their  permanent  resi- 
dence at  Berthelsdorf. 


24 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  FIVE  LOYAL  SONS  OF  THE  UNITY  AND  THEIR  DREAMS  OF 
A  RESUSCITATION. 

At  length  the  new  home  at  Berthelsdorf  was  habitable,  and 
in  it  Zinzendorf  enjoyed  a  retreat  from  the  uncongenial  life  of 
officialdom.  From  July  to  November,  1723,  he  began  to  feel 
at  leisure  to  enter  upon  the  project  which  had  influenced  the 
purchase  of  his  Lusatian  estate,  the  promotion  of  vital  godli- 
ness along  the  lines  of  activity  suggested  and  developed  by  the 
Pietistic  movement.  Accordingly  in  August  certain  members 
of  the  ccclcsiola  previously  established  in  his  household  were 
banded  together  into  what  became  known  as  "The  Covenant 
of  the  Four  Brethren,"  in  eflfect  a  renewal  of  the  "Order  of  the 
Grain  of  Mustard  Seed,"  but  with  definite  aims.  De  Watteville, 
Rothe,  and  Schaeffer  were  his  coadjutors.  The  first,  a  man  of 
most  attractive  parts — affable,  benevolent,  frank,  unaffected, 
cheerful,  inviting  confidence,  energetic — was  in  the  glow  of  first 
love  for  Christ,  having  reached  a  wholesome  assurance  of  per- 
sonal salvation  only  half  a  year  before.  Rothe's  fervid  piety 
was  kindling  a  new  Hght  among  the  Lusatian  villages,  and 
Schaeffer  of  Gorlitz  was  manifesting  likeness  of  spirit  with 
them.  These  men  covenanted  together  to  seek  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  for  their  own  renewal  in  holiness  and  for  the 
exaltation  of  the  actual  and  practical  sway  of  Christ  throughout 
the  land,  and  purposed  to  attain  their  aim  by  personal  corre- 
spondence, by  securing  the  allegiance  of  pulpits  pledged  to 
seek  to  promote  revivals  of  religion,  by  the  publication  of  suit- 
able literature,  by  the  reformation  of  pastoral  methods  and  of 
the  inner  life  of  the  churches,  by  the  itinerancy  of  evangelists, 
and  by  the  founding  and  maintenance  of  a  college  distinctively 
religious  in  its  educational  methods.  Dresden,  where  Zinzen- 
dorf held  religious  services  in  his  apartments,  Gorlitz,  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


25 


especially  Berthelsdorf  were  to  be  the  first  centers  of  this 
activity. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  a  printer  at  Pirna,  Ludwig  by 
name,  was  found  willing  to  manage  the  publication  house,  if 
proper  capital  were  provided;  but  a  prohibitory  decree  of  the 
Saxon  cabinet  in  May,  1724,  necessitated  its  establishment  out- 
side the  country. 

The  educational  enterprise  seemed  more  feasible.  In  the 
autumn  of  1723  Zinzendorf,  De  Watteville  and  Schaeffer  had 
made  a  tour  through  Lower  Silesia,  during  which  the  project 
had  been  discussed  with  friends,  and  a  gratifying  measure  of 
approval  secured.  At  Leube  Captain  von  Schweinitz  had  given 
great  encouragement,  and  had  expressed  his  willingness  to 
send  his  two  sons  as  pupils.  A  prospective  principal  had  been 
secured,  John  Christian  Gutbier,  a  physician  of  Schmiedeberg 
enjoying  an  extensive  practice.  Hence  on  January  31,  1724, 
a  written  agreement  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  four 
"brethren"  and  their  wives,  to  provide  the  money  needed  for 
a  commencement.  The  sum  of  two  hundred  thaler  was  sub- 
scribed by  each,  and  in  addition  Captain  von  Schweinitz 
donated  one  hundred.  A  further  sum  of  seven  hundred  was 
borrowed  at  six  per  cent. 

When  it  came  to  the  choice  of  a  site,  the  village  of  Berthels- 
dorf was  not  itself  selected,  but  a  plot  of  ground  not  far  from 
the  humble  homes  of  the  Moravian  refugees  on  the  highway 
from  Lobau  to  Zittau.  Yet  their  cooperation  was  taken  into 
the  calculations  in  only  a  secondary  way.  Nevertheless  God 
meant  the  plan  of  the  titled  owner  of  the  land  to  fail,  and 
designed  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  the  obscure  exiles 
through  the  attempted  founding  of  this  very  college. 

It  was  the  foresight  of  an  experienced  man,  blessed  by  the 
guidance  of  God,  that  had  been  employed  in  selecting  the  site 
for  the  new  settlement. 

When  Lady  Gersdorf  had  turned  over  the  first  refugees  from 
Moravia  to  the  care  of  Heitz,  it  was  his  first  purpose  to  lodge 
them  on  a  leasehold  farm  held  by  his  employer.  But  whilst 
the  men  were  absent,  having  returned  to  Gorlitz  to  bring  their 
wives  and  children,  he  consulted  further  with  the  Baroness. 
They  came  to  an  agreement  that  the  newcomers  should  settle 
in  some  spot  by  themselves,  and  not  in  the  already  existing 
village.    The  Baroness  proposed  a  place  where  there  were 


26 


A  HISTORY  OF 


good  springs,  but  Heitz  preferred  a  point  on  the  highway 
from  Lobau  to  Zittau,  as  affording  better  opportunity  to  live 
by  their  trade.  Lady  Gersdorf  objected  that  water  could  not 
be  found  there.  But  Heitz  was  confident  that  God  would  help 
and  Marche  agreed  with  him.  Next  morning  at  sunrise  there- 
fore Heitz  went  to  the  Hutberg,  a  prominent  hill  of  basalt 
south-west  of  Berthelsdorf.  From  its  summit  a  charming  out- 
look was  to  be  had,  the  larger  part  of  Upper  Lusatia  standing 
out  in  all  the  beauty  of  alternate  hill  and  valley,  field  and  forest 
and  village,  castle  and  spire.  To  the  south  and  south-east  rise 
the  Oderwitz  Spitzberg,  the  Hochwald  and  the  crags  and 
peaks  of  Saxon  Switzerland,  separating  Lusatia  from  Bohemia, 
and  in  the  blue  distance  of  the  east  the  Isarkamm  and  the 
Riesengebirge.  To  the  west  and  north  the  nearer  Kottmar 
and  Sohlander  Rothstein  and  the  distant  Konigshain.  A 
noble  panorama  of  well-tilled  valleys  and  wooded  slopes !  But 
the  shrewd  man  of  affairs  who  has  seized  on  the  strategic  value 
of  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Hutberg,  where  the  highway  skirts 
its  base,  as  the  site  of  future  industries,  is  less  concerned  with 
the  charms  of  sunrise  from  this  favored  spot,  and  more  with 
the  rising  of  mists  from  the  lower  ground,  that  he  may  learn 
where  water  is  likely  to  be  found.  He  accompanies  his  obser- 
vations with  fervent  prayer.  Lo !  an  abundant  mist  hangs  over 
a  spot  not  far  from  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Gratefully  he  vows, 
"Upon  this  spot  will  I  in  Thy  name  build  them  the  first  house.*' 
True,  it  is  now  a  wild  marshy  stretch  of  unimproved  land. 
Tangled  forest,  bushes  and  briars  are  on  every  side.  The  very 
highway  is  so  poor  that  wagons  sometimes  sink  axle-deep  in 
mud.  But  faith  and  energy  will  work  wonders.  Augustine 
Neisser's  wife  will  at  first  exclaim,  "Where  shall  we  find  bread 
in  this  wilderness?"  But  Christian  David's  recitation  of  the 
third  verse  of  the  eighty-fourth  Psalm,  as  he  plunges  his  axe 
into  the  first  tree  to  be  felled,  shall  be  typical  of  a  spirit  that 
can  make  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 

So  in  spite  of  all  manner  of  trying  circumstances  the  first 
house  has  been  completed  before  the  young  Count  has  come 
to  his  new  mansion,  and  by  this  time  the  Neissers  and  their 
families  are  not  the  only  expatriated  strangers,  and  the  place 
has  obtained  a  name.  Already  in  July,  1722,  Heitz  when  writ- 
ing to  the  Count  had  named  the  spot  Herrnhut,  expressing 
the  prayer  that  at  the  foot  of  the  Hutberg  a  city  might  rise. 


CHRISTIAN  DAVID. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


27 


which  should  not  only  be  "Untcr  des  Herrn  Hut"  (Under  the 
Lord's  watch-care)  but  also  "Auf  dcs  Hcrrn  Hut"  (On  the  watch 
for  the  Lord). 

Moreover  the  news  sent  home  by  the  first  refugees  had 
encouraged  their  brothers  to  emigrate  and  join  them.  And 
the  characteristic  treatment  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Austrian  authorities  had  served  as  an  additional  stimulus ;  for 
in  lieu  of  the  fugitives  who  were  beyond  reach,  they  had  been 
imprisoned,  and  had  afterwards  received  a  curt  refusal  when 
asking  for  permission  to  leave  the  land  unmolested.  Hence  it 
was  that  when  Hans  Quitt  and  Frederick  Riedel  arrived  at 
Herrnhut  soon  after  Easter,  1723,  they  announced  that  the 
remainder  of  the  Neisser  family  might  shortly  be  expected. 
And  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  emigrations. 

In  fulfillment  of  a  vow  connected  with  his  wife's  recovery 
from  serious  sickness  in  December,  1723,  Christian  David  set 
out  for  Moravia,  bearing  a  letter  to  Christian  Jaeschke  from 
his  relatives  at  Herrnhut  encouraging  him  to  join  them.  He 
and  his  wife  and  five  children  arrived  next  month.  Meantime 
Christian  David  was  busy  in  Zauchtenthal  and  Kunwalde.  In 
the  former  village  he  was  welcomed  into  the  home  of  David 
Schneider,  whose  father  and  grandfather  had  faithfully  cher- 
ished the  traditions  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  The  time  for  an 
appeal  for  decisions  was  most  propitious.  For  the  past  year 
or  two  a  deep  current  of  spirituality  had  been  making  itself 
felt,  and  had  been  promoted  by  Schneider  and  David  Nitsch- 
mann,  a  wagoner  of  Kunwalde,  and  others,  who  enjoyed  the 
sympathy  of  Pastor  Steinmetz  of  Teschen,  just  across  the  Sile- 
sian  border.  Kunwalde  had  been  fortunate  in  having  for 
fifteen  years  a  priest  who  tolerated  the  conventicles,  and  his 
curate  had  been  of  like  mind.  Both  these  priests  had  recently 
died,  and  their  successors  were  bigoted  Papists,  whilst  a  magis- 
trate named  Dietrich  seconded  the  severity  of  the  new  men  in 
their  attempts  to  suppress  private  services.  The  commence- 
ment of  persecutions  and  the  fervid  preaching  of  Christian 
David  contemporaneous  with  it  caused  the  smouldering  fire  of 
religious  revival  to  burst  out  into  flames.  Card-playing,  danc- 
ing, worldly  amusements  and  the  patronage  of  places  of  drink- 
ing practically  ceased.  Hundreds  gathered  openly  for  evan- 
gelical worship.  Young  men  led  in  impressive  prayer-meet- 
ings, and  undertook  house  to  house  visitation  to  win  others  for 


28 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Christ.  The  opponents  discovered  that  ridicule  was  unable  to 
check  the  movement.  Imprisonments  began.  The  ordinary 
places  of  confinement  proved  inadequate  to  hold  the  confessors 
of  the  faith.  All  sorts  of  prisons  were  contrived — cellars, 
stables,  the  upper  portions  of  castle-towers,  loathsome  holes. 
Some  were  compelled  to  work  on  the  roads  with  their  legs 
shackled.  Others  were  transported  to  distant  localities,  where 
it  was  difficult  to  earn  a  living.  Naturally,  equal  firmness  was 
not  displayed  by  all;  but  many  proved  true  in  spite  of  every 
^  inducement  to  recant.  Emigration  finally  became  the  resource 
of  the  most  determined,  emigration  even  at  the  cost  of  all 
earthly  possessions. 

Yet  hitherto  the  question  with  the  refugees  had  been  a  ques- 
tion only  of  personal  liberty  of  conscience.  Although  all  five 
sons  of  George  Neisser,  who  had  stood  beside  the  death-bed 
of  father  Jaeschke,  and  to  whom  he  had  foretold  the  renewal 
of  the  church  of  their  forefathers,  were  now  at  the  place  where 
the  resuscitation  was  to  take  place,  not  even  do  they  appear  to 
have  contemplated  anything  more  than  the  securing  of  a  home 
where  they  might  earn  their  living  in  peace  and  the  while  serve 
God  according  to  His  word  and  the  example  of  their  ancestors. 
But  now  five  young  men  of  Zauchtenthal  definitely  resolved  to 
bring  about  the  resuscitation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  should  it 
please  God  to  use  them  for  this  purpose.  They  were  all  sons 
of  well-to-do  parents,  who  knew  that  they  ran  a  serious  risk, 
and  at  best  would  reduce  themselves  to  poverty  by  the  step. 
They  were  David  Nitschmann,  a  weaver,  known  later  as  the 
Syndic,  a  most  useful  agent  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  after 
years  as  a  negotiator  with  various  governments ;  David  Nitsch- 
mann, a  carpenter,  to  whom  Bishop  Daniel  Ernest  Jablonski 
transmitted  the  episcopate,  a  man  of  unflagging  zeal  and  iden- 
tified with  the  commencement  of  the  missions  amongst  the 
heathen ;  Melchior  Zeisberger,  a  pioneer  in  America,  and  the 
father  of  the  apostle  of  the  Delawares ;  John  Toltschig,  a  leader 
in  the  establishment  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  the  north  of 
England  and  in  Ireland ;  and  David  Nitschmann,  the  Martyr, 
an  elder  of  the  congregation  at  Herrnhut  at  the  time  of  its 
baptism  with  the  Spirit,  and  destined  to  witness  a  good  con- 
fession by  a  martyr's  death  in  the  prison  at  Olmiitz,  on  April 
15,  1729.  On  the  first  of  May,  1724,  Toltschig's  father,  the 
village  burgess,  summoned  these  five  comrades  before  him, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


29 


and  strictly  enjoining  their  holding  of  religious  services,  gave 
them  what  he  deemed  soundly  appropriate  advice — to  act  as 
became  their  lively  youth,  frequent  the  taverns,  and  take  part 
in  dances  and  jolHfications.  Any  attempt  at  emigration  on 
their  part  would  be  dealt  with  severely.  Decisive  action  was 
their  reply.  At  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  May  2  they  slipped 
out  of  Zauchtenthal  and  abandoned  all  their  possessions  and 
prospects.  When  fairly  outside  the  place,  they  knelt  down 
and  commended  it  and  their  relatives  to  the  mercy  of  God. 
Then  they  raised  the  hymn  sung  by  Bohemian-Moravian 
Brethren  when  going  into  exile : 

"  Selig  ist  der  Tag,  da  ich  muss  scheiden, 
Mein  liebes  Vaterland  muss  meiden 
Und  mich  begeben  in  das  Elend." 

It  was  their  deliberate  and  brave  purpose  to  proceed  to  Lissa, 
the  old  Polish  center  of  their  fathers'  Church,  and  there  labor 
for  its  renewal.  But  at  Jaegerndorf,  south-east  of  Neisse,  the 
roads  forked,  one  way  leading  to  Upper  Lusatia.  Here  they 
resolved,  before  proceeding  to  Lissa,  to  pay  a  visit  to  Chris- 
tian David.  Reaching  Nieder-Wiese  on  May  9,  they  received 
distinguished  kindness  from  Pastor  Schwedler.  After  praying 
the  Lord's  Prayer  with  them,  he  addressed  them  in  words  that 
now  seem  almost  prophetic,  and  thrilled  their  very  souls  by  his 
praise  of  the  steadfastness  of  their  forefathers.  Thence  he 
had  them  conducted  to  Friedersdorf  with  a  letter  to  Baron  von 
Schweinitz,  whose  treatment  of  them  was  very  considerate, 
and  who  furthered  them  on  their  way  to  his  kinsman.  Captain 
von  Schweinitz  of  Nieder-Leube.  He  in  turn  gave  them  guides 
to  Berthesldorf,  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  Pastor 
Rothe. 

Here  they  arrived  in  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  May,  and 
were  at  first  received  very  coldly  by  Rothe.  But  when  he  dis- 
covered that  they  were  from  good  families  and  had  actually 
given  up  all  for  Christ's  sake,  he  became  very  friendly  and 
tendered  them  his  sincere  sympathy.  Afterwards  he  had  them 
conducted  to  Herrnhut  to  the  Neissers,  who  welcomed  them 
with  great  joy.  However  their  own  feelings  were  those  of 
disappointment.  The  grain  in  the  fields  seemed  poor  and  in- 
stead of  a  place  where  a  town  of  some  size  was  being  laid  out, 
as  Christian  David's  enthusiasm  had  led  them  to  expect,  they 
saw  only  a  poor  collection  of  modest  houses. 


30 


A  HISTORY  OF 


It  SO  happened  that  at  three  o'clock  that  very  afternoon  the 
corner-stone  of  the  college  which  the  associated  brethren  were 
erecting  was  to  be  laid.  The  five  strangers  were  presented  to 
Zinzendorf  previous  to  the  service ;  but  Pastor  Schwedler's 
letter  did  not  insure  them  a  cordial  welcome.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  felt  keenly  that  the  Count  was  not  concerned  in 
them.  Soon  afterwards  the  service  commenced.  In  the 
course  of  it  the  Count  delivered  a  powerful  address,  setting 
forth  the  purpose  of  the  new  building.  His  sentiments  of 
utter  devotion  and  absolute  submission  to  God's  will  deeply 
impressed  the  five  young  Moravians.  One  expression  in  par- 
ticular filled  them  with  holy  awe,  his  wish  that  God  would  put 
hindrances  in  the  way  or  soon  bring  the  project  to  naught,  if  it 
should  not  prove  conducive  to  His  glory.  The  heart-afifect- 
ing  prayer  which  Baron  de  Watteville  ofYered,  kneeling  on  the 
corner-stone,  crowned  the  impressions  of  the  hour.  They  felt 
that  it  was  the  purpose  of  Providence  that  they  should  cast  in 
their  lot  with  Herrnhut,  and  not  proceed  to  Lissa. 

The  building  whose  corner-stone  was  laid  amidst  such  pecu- 
liar circumstances  served  as  a  college  for  young  noblemen  for 
only  one  year  and  a  half.  Then  it  became  an  orphanage, 
and  its  large  hall  was  used  as  the  first  place  of  worship  for  the 
people  of  Herrnhut.  The  hand  of  God  is  very  evident  in  the 
failure  of  the  plans  of  Zinzendorf  and  his  associates,  and  their 
being  rendered  undesignedly  subordinate  to  the  renewal  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum.  ; 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


31 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  HERRNHUT,  AND  THE  RESUSCITATION  OF 
THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH  MADE  POSSIBLE  THROUGH 
THE  BAPTISM  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

For  the  present  Zinzendorf  gave  his  chief  attention  to  other 
affairs  than  those  of  the  Moravian  exiles.  Every  eflfort  was 
put  forth  to  carry  out  the  plans  which  he  had  formed  with 
De  Watteville,  Rothe  and  Schaeffer.  In  Dresden  Superin- 
tendent Loscher  tolerated  Zinzendorf's  services  in  his  own 
apartments.  But  when  the  Ebersdorf  press,  established  after 
the  prohibitory  decree  stopped  negotiations  with  Ludwig  at 
Pirna,  began  to  issue  Zinzendorf's  "Dresdcncr  Socrates,"  a 
caustic  weekly  sheet  which  first  appeared  on  November  ist, 
1725,  it  made  such  a  sensation  that  the  third  number  was  con- 
fiscated by  the  order  of  the  consistory.  However  the  inhibi- 
tion was  only  temporary,  and  it  reached  a  thirty-second  num- 
ber in  December,  1726.  From  the  same  press  an  edition  of 
the  Bible  appeared  in  1725.  Rothe's  fervent  eloquence  at- 
tracted crowds  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  necessitated 
an  enlargement  of  the  church  at  Berthelsdorf.  De  Watteville 
had  general  oversight  of  the  affairs  of  the  college  and  of  an 
orphanage  for  girls  near  the  ScJihss  at  Berthelsdorf.  Schaefer's 
private  meetings  at  Gorlitz,  however,  aroused  the  opposition 
of  other  ministers.  Nor  did  Rothe's  efforts  remain  unchal- 
lenged; for  in  1725,  when  the  people  from  the  neighboring 
estates  manifested  special  interest  by  their  attendance  in  large 
numbers,  various  noblemen  sought  to  prohibit  their  retainers 
from  going  thither.  But  Zinzendorf  had  friends  as  well  as 
enemies  in  the  Saxon  Cabinet,  and  a  decision  was  secured  annul- 
ling any  and  all  such  inhibitions.  In  fact  the  very  purpose  of 
those  hostile  to  the  four  friends  was  thwarted  by  the  accom- 
panying order  from  the  Saxon  Cabinet,  that  its  decision  must 
be  announced  from  the  pulpits.    Significant  also  was  the  cor- 


32 


A  HISTORY  OF 


respondence  carried  on  by  the  Count,  because  destined  here- 
after to  open  the  way  for  the  Moravian  Church  in  various 
directions.  Prince  Charles  of  Denmark  (Canstein's  bene- 
factor), Countess  von  Schaumberg-Lippe,  Count  Schonberg- 
Lichtenstein,  several  of  the  Reuss  family,  Count  Promnitz  of 
Sorau,  and  others,  were  in  touch  with  his  efforts  to  further  his 
Pietistic  undertakings.  With  Cardinal  Noailles  he  maintained 
an  exchange  of  letters,  and  through  him  sought  to  be  of  ser- 
vice to  the  Gallican  Church.  As  a  means  of  this  he  translated 
and  published  Arndt's  Wahres  Christenthiim,  which  had  proved 
a  blessing  in  the  churches  of  Germany  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury. Their  mutual  friend,  De  Watteville,  carried  the  work  to 
the  Cardinal,  who  received  it  with  satisfaction.  But  the  chan- 
cellor of  France  forbade  its  circulation,  and  Zinzendorf  had  to 
turn  over  the  entire  edition  to  a  bookseller  in  Amsterdam, 
Van  Woesberge. 

In  the  summer  of  1724  Zinzendorf  had  paid  a  visit  to  Halle. 
He  went  full  of  enthusiasm  for  its  men,  considering  himself 
their  disciple,  imitator  and  co-laborer.  He  wished  to  report 
to  them  the  progress  of  his  projects.  Anton  rejoiced  in  the 
light  that  was  being  kindled  among  the  Lusatian  hills,  but 
Francke  would  have  been  better  pleased  had  Berthelsdorf  been 
distinctly  tributary  to  Halle.  The  visit  resulted  in  the  very 
opposite  of  that  for  which  it  had  been  designed.  Hostility  to 
Zinzendorf  and  jealousy  of  his  influence  began  to  characterize 
Halle. 

But  whilst  the  Count  was  occupied  with  his  own  projects, 
the  movement  from  Moravia  to  Herrnhut  grew  in  force. 
Nitschmanns,  Hickels,  Quitts,  Webers,  Fischers,  Beyers  and 
others,  some  of  them  rich  in  their  old  homes,  most  of  them  in 
comfortable  circumstances,  and  all  of  them  self-impoverished 
by  their  willing  exile  for  Christ's  sake,  made  escape  from  spir- 
itual bondage.  By  May,  1725  there  were  ninety  of  these 
refugees  at  Herrnhut.  Some  of  them  had  made  thrilHng 
experiences.  Not  a  few  had  very  narrowly  escaped  appre- 
hension. Some  had  made  their  way  out  of  prison  in  a  mar- 
velous fashion.  For  example.  Christian  Jaeschke  was  a 
wealthy  inhabitant  of  Sehlen,  and  had  the  prospect  of  being 
made  burgomaster.  When  he  felt  the  power  of  the  Gospel  he 
at  first  tried  to  serve  the  Lord  in  secret,  but  soon  found  it 
uncomfortable  to  try  to  serve  God  and  Mammon.    Hence  he 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


33 


wrote  to  Augustine  Neisser,  to  learn  the  prospects  for  new- 
comers at  Herrnhut.  The  reply  caused  a  violent  struggle  of 
conscience ;  but  faith  emerged  victorious.  At  any  cost  he 
would  seek  Herrnhut.  He  and  his  family,  seven  souls  in  all, 
began  the  journey  on  a  moonlight  night.  To  their  conster- 
nation a  thick  fog  arose,  and  they  lost  their  way.  When  at 
last  they  emerged  into  a  familiar  locality,  behold !  they  had 
come  back  to  their  old  neighborhood,  and  were  in  Zauchtenthal. 
Here  they  found  lodging  with  David  Schneider.  When  after- 
wards they  learnt  that  the  police  had  been  following  them  in 
the  night,  and  that  the  fog  had  saved  them  from  being  appre- 
hended, their  gratitude  was  great.  Setting  out  on  the  following 
night,  they  made  good  their  escape  and  in  time  reached  their 
destination,  though  enduring  great  hardships  by  the  way. 
After  the  flight  of  David  Nitschmann,  the  weaver,  his  father 
was  arrested  and  confined  in  the  tower  of  the  castle.  One  day 
he  found  a  rope  hanging  out  of  a  window.  By  means  of  this 
he  escaped.  His  wife  was  arrested,  but  sang  a  hymn  of  Gospel 
trust  in  the  presence  of  the  magistrate,  was  dismissed  and  fled. 
Though  they  had  no  preconcerted  plan,  they  were  providentially 
brought  together  on  the  way  to  Herrnhut.  David  Nitschmann, 
the  wheelwright,  and  David  Schneider  were  thrown  into  prison 
and  were  chained.  One  day  they  found  that  through  some  negli- 
gence their  chains  had  not  been  locked  and  that  the  doors  of  the 
castle  had  been  left  open.  In  broad  daylight  they  walked  out, 
went  to  Schneider's  house,  where  they  took  refreshment,  and 
then  set  out  for  Herrnhut.  David  Hickel  was  sent  after  them. 
Because  he  did  not  succeed  in  finding  them  he  was  accused  of 
having  abetted  their  flight,  and  was  placed  in  a  dungeon  without 
food  for  three  days  and  two  nights.  At  last  scraps  of  meat, 
meant  for  the  dogs,  were  given  to  him,  and  he  was  taken  to  a 
room  above  ground.  From  this  room  he  escaped  by  walking 
out  between  the  guards  when  their  backs  were  turned. 
He  took  time  to  bid  farewell  to  his  friends  whilst  pass- 
ing through  the  village,  and  yet  reached  Herrnhut  in  safety. 
David  Quitt  was  in  the  habit  of  conducting  reHgious  services  in 
his  own  house.  For  this  he  was  heavily  fined.  Later  because 
he  was  suspected  of  intending  to  emigrate  he  was  cast  into  a 
cold  and  filthy  dungeon  and  had  to  pay  an  additional  one 
hundred  thaler  before  being  released.  After  this,  when  he  had 
given  lodging  to  a  visitor  from  Herrnhut,  his  house  was 
4 


34 


A  HISTORY  OF 


searched,  but  the  man  had  already  gone.  Next  night  Quitt  fled 
with  his  family,  taking  nothing  with  them  but  the  clothes  they 
wore.  In  a  neigboring  village  they  were  stopped  by  several 
Roman  Catholics,  who  prepared  to  send  them  back.  Quitt  cast 
himself  on  their  mercy,  teUing  them  what  he  had  already  en- 
dured. Compassion  wrought  their  release  and  even  secured 
them  aid.  David  Weber  and  Thomas  Fischer  long  lay  in  prison 
for  their  profession  of  evangelical  faith.  Finally  they  were  con- 
demned to  the  galleys.  To  escape  this  cruel  fate  they  risked  a 
leap  from  a  lofty  window  of  their  prison,  accomplished  it  in 
safety,  and  fled  with  their  famiHes.  Andrew  Beyer,  of  Kun- 
walde,  had  been  in  confinement  for  more  than  a  )'ear,  and  had 
remained  steadfast  in  spite  of  tortures.  Now  he  was  con- 
demned to  He  in  chains  in  a  subterranean  dungeon.  His  com- 
panion for  conscience  sake  was  David  Fritsch.  Early  in  the 
morning  of  the  day  during  which  the  stern  sentence  was  to  be 
carried  out  Fritsch  happened  to  push  against  the  door  of  their 
cell,  which  was  usually  secured  by  a  heavy  chain  drawn  across  it 
on  the  outside.  This  had  been  imperfectly  fastened,  and  fell  to 
the  ground.  Seeing  no  guards  when  they  peered  out,  the  two 
walked  forth  unhindered,  and  with  their  families  set  out  for 
Herrnhut.  On  their  way  through  Moravia  some  armed  men, 
conjectured  to  have  been  robbers,  seized  them,  and  one  placed 
his  sword  at  Beyer's  breast,  but  the  pitiful  entreaties  of  the 
fugitives  prevailed  and  they  were  released. 

Not  all  indeed  were  so  fortunate.  For  example,  David 
Nitschmann,  henceforth  to  be  known  as  the  Martyr,  having 
started  for  Moravia  in  disguise,  in  order  to  visit  his  father,  was 
recognized  and  apprehended,  and  languished  in  prison  in  Krem- 
sir. 

Nor  was  every  one  who  came  to  Herrnhut  from  Moravia  as  a 
matter  of  course  allowed  to  remain  there.  On  his  arrival  he  was 
brought  before  a  justice,  and  compelled  to  give  a  reason  for 
his  presence.  Was  he  moved  by  anything  else  than  a  desire 
to  serve  Christ  freely,  he  was  given  a  letter  of  recommendation 
to  his  former  feudal  lord  and  dismissed  with  the  advice  to  re- 
turn, possibly  with  money  in  his  pocket  for  the  journey,  fur- 
nished by  Zinzendorf.  In  no  case  were  inducements  thrown  out 
on  the  Count's  part  to  attract  refugees.  Christian  David's  visits 
to  his  fatherland,  whither  he  went  ten  times  in  all,  were  in  fact 
contrary  to  Zinzendorf's  expressed  desires. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


35 


Yet  the  tide  of  emigration  continued.  Therefore  in  August, 
1726,  Zinzendorf  undertook  a  journey  to  Kremsir,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  some  agreement  with  the  imperial  authorities  in  regard 
to  this  delicate  matter,  despite  the  risk  involved  in  placing  him- 
self in  the  power  of  these  of?icials.  But  the  interview  with 
Cardinal  von  Schrattenbach,  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  and  with  his 
brother,  Count  Otto,  an  officer  in  the  imperial  service,  proved 
ineffectual.  When  he  based  his  arguments  upon  the  right  of 
emigration  granted  to  Protestant  subjects  by  the  terms  of  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  he  received  a  polite  hearing,  nothing  more. 
When  he  asked  for  the  Hberation  of  Nitschmann,  or  at  least 
to  be  permitted  to  see  him,  a  downright  refusal  followed. 
Moreover  it  was  well  that  he  did  not  prolong  his  own  stay  in 
the  city  for  more  than  twelve  hours,  for  the  rapidity  of  his 
movements  alone  saved  him  from  the  pursuit  which  these  gen- 
tlemen instituted. 

Emigrations  continued  in  spite  of  Austrian  watchfulness  and 
notwithstanding  the  scruples  of  the  young  Saxon  Count.  It 
was  natural,  too,  that  the  fervent  religious  life  of  those  who 
had  shown  that  they  considered  freedom  of  conscience  the 
most  precious  thing,  should  attract  others  than  Moravians. 
This,  in  conjunction  with  the  fame  attending  the  preaching  of 
Rothe,  began  to  draw  one  and  another  from  the  immediate 
vicinity  and  from  various  parts  of  Germany.  As  early  as  1725 
Frederick  Kiihnel,  a  linen-weaver  from  the  neighboring  village 
of  Oberoderwitz,  had  built  himself  a  house  near  those  of  the 
Moravians,  and  thus  introduced  into  the  place  a  valuable  in- 
dustry. Another  industry  was  brought  by  the  brothers  Martin 
and  Leonard  Dober,  Swabians,  of  Austrian  extraction,  who 
had  been  led  to  Saxony  during  their  "Wandcrjahrc"  as  potters 
by  the  fact  that  their  uncle  was  a  maker  of  artistic  ware  in 
the  capital.  Diversified  occupations  and  the  reputation  for 
thoroughness  acquired  by  Herrnhut  began  to  give  promise  of 
prosperity. 

But  with  the  variety  of  religious  sentiments  now  represented 
in  the  place,  troubles  arose.  Some  of  the  people  were  prac- 
tically Lutherans,  others  Calvinists,  whilst  a  number  of  the 
Moravians,  under  the  lead  of  the  five  young  men  who  desired 
the  resuscitation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  a  sine  qua  non  of 
their  remaining  in  Herrnhut,  urged  the  adoption  of  its  prin- 
ciples and  practices.     Moreover  individuals  who  adhered  in 


36 


A  HISTORY  OF 


part  to  one  or  another  confession,  clung  to  their  own 
peculiar  views.  Their  standing  in  relation  to  the  parish  of 
Berthelsdorf  was  also  undefined,  and  antagonism  arose  be- 
tween the  members  of  the  ecclesiola  there  and  the  people  of 
Herrnhut  who  resisted  all  efforts  to  bring  them  into  its  mem- 
bership. Nor  had  any  rules  and  regulations  been  formulated 
for  the  government  of  the  inner  life  of  Herrnhut.  Secta- 
rianism and  separatism  threatened  to  wreck  the  welfare  of  the 
new  settlement.  Many  kept  aloof  from  the  administration  of 
the  word  and  the  sacraments.  The  trouble  was  intensified 
towards  the  close  of  1726  by  the  arrival  of  a  company  of 
Schwenkfelder  from  Silesia.  These  were  descendants  of  the 
followers  of  Caspar  Schwenkfeld,  a  Silesian  noble  contempo- 
rary with  Luther,  who  had  in  the  main  embraced  the  evan- 
gelical faith  but  had  disagreed  whh.  the  Reformer  respecting 
the  Lord's  Supper,  holding  peculiar  views  of  his  own.  They 
had  been  oppressed  by  the  Lutherans,  especially  in  1590  and 
1650,  and  had  been  exposed  to  great  hardships  through  the 
machinations  of  the  Jesuits  in  1719.  Now  a  number  of  families 
had  cast  themselves  for  a  time  on  the  benevolence  of  the  Count, 
most  of  them  residing  at  Berthelsdorf. 

Zinzendorf  himself  was  very  much  worried  by  the  outlook. 
Francke  had  cautioned  him  regarding  the  separatistic  tendencies 
of  Herrnhut  in  1725.  Early  in  1727  he  therefore  sought  and 
obtained  indefinite  leave  of  absence  from  his  official  duties, 
that  he  might  devote  himself  to  the  people  on  his  estate.  Upon 
removing  thither  and  discovering  that  Rothe  had  lost  the 
confidence  of  the  Moravians,  he  made  himself  responsible  for 
their  spiritual  welfare  as  catechist.  To  most  successfully  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  this  oftice,  he  made  his  home  at  Herrnhut 
on  the  twenty-first  of  April,  and  entrusting  his  business  mat- 
ters wholly  to  his  wife  and  De  Watteville,  gave  his  entire  time 
and  attention  to  the  task  of  correcting  existing  evils.  He  now 
labored  earnestly  with  individuals,  seeking  to  converse  closely 
and  searchingly  with  every  inhabitant  of  the  place.  It  became 
evident  to  him  that  a  problem  requiring  solution,  was  how  to 
accede  to  the  desire  of  the  Moravians  to  have  the  disciplinary 
features  of  their  ancient  church  preserved  to  them,  and  at  the 
same  time  maintain  the  connection  with  the  parish  organiza- 
tion. Even  if  he  had  at  this  time  desired  to  resuscitate  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  pure  and  simple,  the  laws  of  the  state  would 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


37 


not  have  allowed  it ;  nor  was  he  at  present  contemplating  any- 
thing of  this  sort.  In  fact  the  pecuUar  relation  of  Herrnhut  to 
the  State  Church  for  some  time  to  come  and  Zinzendorf's  later 
efTort  to  have  it  both  a  Moravian  congregation  and  a  part  of 
the  State  Church  gave  a  peculiar  tendency  to  the  development 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  for  many  decades.  Moreover  his  rela- 
tion to  Herrnhut  in  civil  affairs  complicated  his  endeavors  as 
an  individual.  He  had  not  only  accorded  the  Moravians  a 
refuge,  but  was  their  feudal  lord. 

He  next  consulted  with  Rothe,  Christian  David,  Marche — the 
last  named  now  his  legal  adviser — and  with  the  most  influential 
of  the  Moravians,  for  the  drawing  up  of  statutes  which  should 
regulate  the  communal  life  of  Herrnhut,  special  consideration 
being  given  to  what  the  Moravians  represented  to  be  the  tra- 
ditional discipHne  of  the  old  Unitas  Fratrum.  The  result  was, 
that  on  May  12th  forty-two  statutes  relating  to  Christian  walk 
and  conduct,  together  with  certain  prohibitions  and  injunctions 
setting  forth  their  relation  to  Zinzendorf  as  their  feudal  lord, 
were  publicly  accepted  by  all  the  people  of  Herrnhut,  and  each 
individual  gave  the  Count  his  right  hand  in  token  of  solemn  pur- 
pose to  abide  by  the  compact.  On  the  same  day  twelve 
"elders"  were  chosen  to  have  spiritual  supervision,  four  of 
whom,  after  the  time  honored  usage  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren, 
were  by  lot  singled  out  as  "chief  elders" — Christian  David, 
George  Nitschmann,  Melchior  Nitschmann  and  Christopher 
Hoffmann.  Night  watchmen,  inspectors  of  public  works,  watch- 
ers by  the  sick,  almoners  of  the  poor,  etc.,  were  subsequently 
chosen.  To  promote  personal  growth  in  grace  and  spiritual 
fellowship,  "Bunden,"  that  is,  "bands"  or  "classes,"  were  insti- 
tuted, small  associations  of  those  who  had  spiritual  affinity  for 
each  other.  These  had  frequent  conferences  for  prayers  and 
the  interchange  of  personal  experience.  During  the  subse- 
quent weeks  the  conferences  of  Zinzendorf  with  the  elders  as 
well  as  the  gatherings  of  these  several  companies  and  the  Sun- 
day services  were  marked  by  signs  of  a  deep  undercurrent  of 
spiritual  interest.  Melchior  Zeisberger,  George  Schmidt,  Mel- 
chior Nitschmann,  David  Tanneberger,  Frederick  Bohnisch, 
Leonard  and  Martin  Dober,  iVugustine  Neisser  and  others, 
entered  into  a  special  covenant  to  meet  frequently  for  mutual 
edification,  and  gave  special  study  to  the  first  Epistle  of  St. 
John. 


38 


A  HISTORY  OF 


From  July  22  to  August  4,  Zinzendorf  was  absent  on  a  visit 
to  Baron  Gersdorf  at  Hartmannsdorf.  Shortly  before  he  had 
received  a  copy  of  Comenius'  Ratio  Disciplinae,  a  work  with 
which  he  was  up  to  this  time  wholly  unfamiliar.  He  was 
amazed  at  the  substantial  agreement  of  the  statutes  of  May 
I2th  with  the  discipline  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  set  forth  by 
Comenius — itself  a  proof  of  the  purity  of  the  tradition  respect- 
ing the  ways  of  their  fathers  preserved  amongst  the  "Hidden 
Seed"  in  Moravia,  and  a  token  of  the  vitality  of  that  "Seed." 
When  he  communicated  to  the  assembled  people  his  German 
version  of  the  Ratio  Disciplinae  on  his  return  in  August,  it 
caused  a  profound  sensation.  He  himself  now  for  the  first 
time  began  to  think  seriously  that  the  resuscitation  of  the  Unity 
of  the  Brethren  might  be  providentially  intended  through  the 
establishment  of  the  colony  of  Moravians  at  Herrnhut. 

The  varied  experiences  of  tliis  memorable  year  culminated 
in  a  realization  of  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  a  baptism  of 
His  Spirit  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion at  Berthelsdorf  on  Wednesday,  August  13th. 

The  day  began  with  a  short  address  on  the  Holy  Communion 
by  Rothe  at  Herrnhut.  It  was  at  his  invitation  that  the  special 
celebration  was  about  to  take  place,  the  first  opportunity  of 
this  kind  since  a  better  state  of  feeling  had  been  restored,  and 
he  desired  to  be  a  guest  at  the  Lord's  table  with  his  people.  At 
the  parish  church  in  Berthelsdorf  the  service  opened  with  the 
hymn : 

"  Entbinde  mich,  mein  Gott," 

"Deliver  me,  my  God,  from  all  that's  now  enchaining." 

Then  Pastor  Rothe  administered  the  rite  of  confirmation  to 
two  Moravian  candidates  with  a  blessing  that  was  truly  apos- 
tolic. A  most  earnest  discourse  followed.  During  the  singing 
of  another  hymn : 

"  Hier  legt  mein  Sinn  sich  vor  Dir  nieder,'' 
"  My  soul  before  Thee  prostrate  lies," 

the  congregation  knelt,  and  then  the  Count  offered  the  public 
confession  amidst  the  penitent  tears  of  many.  He  interceded 
for  a  true  union  of  hearts,  a  freedom  from  any  sort  of  schism 
and  from  ofTense  to  those  that  were  without,  for  the  solid  and 
unshaken  foundation  in  the  blood  and  cross  of  Christ,  for  the 
establishing  of  their  brethren  and  the  many  hundreds  of  awak- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


39 


ened  persons  in  other  places  who  had  wandered  into  by-paths, 
and  finally  for  a  blessing  upon  two  of  the  elders  who  were 
absent,  Christian  David  and  Melchior  Nitschmann,  away 
on  a  visit  to  fellow  Moravian  exiles  at  Sorau  in  Hungary. 
Three  other  fervent  prayers  followed.  The  absolution  was  pro- 
nounced by  Pastor  John  Luke  Siiss,  of  Hennersdorf,  who 
administered  the  elements.  The  hearts  of  those  who  partook 
were  filled  with  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost  in  a  manner 
they  had  never  experienced  before,  and  they  were  drawn  to 
one  another  in  loving  union.  In  short,  they  received  a  verit- 
able baptism  of  the  Spirit,  though  the  full  significance  of  the 
day  was  only  later  completely  realized.  Montgomery  describes 
the  transactions  of  this  spiritual  birthday  of  the  resuscitated 
Brethren's  Church  in  appreciative  verse : 

"They  walked  with  God  in  peace  and  love, 

But  failed  with  one  another ; 
While  sternly  for  the  faith  they  strove, 

Brother  fell  out  with  brother ; 
But  He  in  Whom  they  put  their  trust, 

Who  knew  their  frames,  that  they  were  dust, 
Pitied  and  healed  their  weakness. 

He  found  them  in  His  House  of  prayer, 

With  one  accord  assembled, 
And  so  revealed  His  presence  there, 

They  wept  for  joy  and  trembled ; 
One  cup  they  drank,  one  bread  they  brake. 

One  baptism  shared,  one  language  spake, 
Forgiving  and  forgiven. 

Then  forth  they  went,  with  tongues  of  flame, 

In  one  blest  theme  delighting. 
The  love  of  Jesus  and  His  Name 

God's  children  all  uniting  ! 
That  love,  our  theme  and  watchword  still ; 

That  law  of  love  may  we  fulfill, 
And  love  as  we  are  loved." 

It  is  remarkable,  that  on  the  same  day  and  at  the  same  hour 
Christian  David  and  Melchior  Nitschmann,  at  Sablat  near 
Sorau,  felt  an  overpowering  impulse  to  pray  for  their  brethren 
at  Herrnhut,  and  on  their  return  at  once  asked  what  had 
transpired  just  at  that  time. 


40 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  INNER  LIFE  OF  HERRNHUT,  AND  ITS  EXTERNAL  ACTIVITY, 

1727— 1732. 

Herrnhut  for  some  years  remained  an  integral  part  of  the 
parish  of  Berthelsdorf,  and  yet  gradually  developed  communal, 
liturgical  and  doctrinal  features  of  its  own,  practically  complete 
by  the  year  1732;  and  in  1756  an  absolute  separation  took  place, 
a  legally  binding  agreement  to  this  effect  being  concluded  in 
1758  between  the  patron  of  Herrnhut  and  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  of  the  older  community.  The  resuscitation  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  as  such  could  take  place  only  after  a  formative 
period  of  transition.  Several  features  of  the  revival  in  the 
latter  half  of  1727  are  however  of  significance  in  their  influence 
upon  future  regulations  of  the  church. 

One  was  the  awakening  amongst  the  children,  fostered  by 
the  Count  and  by  the  teachers,  Krumpe  at  Berthelsdorf  and 
Rohleder  at  Herrnhut.  Among  the  first  to  be  affected  were 
Susanna,  the  eleven-year-old  daughter  of  Frederick  Kiihnel, 
Anna,  the  sister  of  Melchior  Nitschmann,  Rosina  Fischer  and 
Julia  Quitt.  Soon  religious  interest  touched  the  boys  also. 
Boys  and  girls  delighted  in  hours  of  prayer,  and  young  though 
they  were  obtained  assurance  of  personal  salvation,  which  led 
them  to  pledge  their  lives»to  the  service  of  Christ. 

Another  feature  was  the  institution  of  the  "Hourly  Inter- 
cession," called  forth  by  the  dangers  that  threatened  the  settle- 
ment, some  of  them  arising  in  connection  with  the  revival 
amongst  the  children.  For  Rothe  did  not  remain  on  the  best 
terms  with  Herrnhut,  and  when  Kiihnel  disapproved  of  his 
daughter's  intimacy  with  her  awakened  Moravian  associates, 
sided  with  him  and  in  his  public  utterances  began  to  display 
an  ultra-Lutheran  tendency.  Halle's  position  became  positively 
hostile..  Zinzendorf's  own  relatives,  his  half-brother  and  his  aunt 
Henrietta,  cooled  towards  him  and  then  antagonized  his  work. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


41 


It  was  reported  from  Dresden  that  the  crushing  of  Herrnhut 
had  been  determined.  Lords  of  adjacent  domains  prohibited 
attendance  at  the  services  in  Herrnhut.  When  Jacob  Neisser 
and  Gottlob  Wried  went  to  a  neighboring  place  to  hold  a 
meeting,  the  latter  was  arrested  and  lodged  in  prison  at  Zittau. 
All  this  convinced  of  the  need  of  unintermitted  prayer  in  behalf 
of  Herrnhut.  On  the  27th  of  August  the  time  from  midnight 
to  midnight  was  divided  amongst  twenty-four  men  and  the 
same  number  of  women,  in  such  a  manner  that  each  one  of 
them  should  consecutively  spend  an  hour  in  intercession,  the 
hours  being  assigned  by  lot. 

Various  other  unique  characteristics  began  to  distinguish  the 
life  of  Herrnhut.  Modifications  in  the  internal  and  communal 
arrangements  were  made  at  various  times,  especially  in  1728; 
yet  the  following  distinctive  features  obtained  more  or  less 
permanence : 

The  idea  of  a  theocratic  republic  prevailed,  in  so  far  as  it 
was  permitted  by  the  laws  of  the  land  and  by  the  require- 
ments of  feudal  suzerainty  which  Zinzendorf  was  not  at  liberty 
to  wholly  resign. 

A  town  meeting  and  a  church  council  regulated  secular  and 
religious  affairs.  A  communal  court  of  justice  similar  to  the 
collegium  judicum  of  the  old  Unitas  Fratrum  had  the  general 
oversight  of  business  and  trade  and  arbitrated  when  disagree- 
ments arose ;  its  members  were  Frederick  de  Watteville,  Tobias 
Friederich,  Zinzendorf's  Kapellmeister,  a  certain  Bezold  and 
Michael  Linner.  At  the  head  of  the  community  in  both  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  relations  stood  Zinzendorf,  with  De  Watte- 
ville as  his  chief  assistant  in  business  matters.  The  spiritual 
oversight  was  committed  to  the  elders,  whose  number  varied 
from  time  to  time,  there  being  finally  only  one  "chief  elder"  with 
one  or  more  assistants,  not  lording  it  over  others,  but  aiming 
to  serve  them  and  intercede  for  their  welfare.  Martin  Linner 
and  Leonard  Dober  were  noteworthy  incumbents  of  this  office, 
the  former  choosing  ahke  in  winter  and  in  summer  to  sleep  on 
a  bare  board  so  as  not  to  differ  from  the  poorest  of  his  brethren. 
Augustine  Neisser,  Martin  Dober,  David  Nitschmann,  the 
future  bishop,  Melchior  Nitschmann,  John  Gottlob  Klemm  and 
Martin  Rohleder,  men  distinguished  for  abiUty  to  edify  by 
public  speech,  were  commissioned  to  conduct  the  public  services 
at  Herrnhut,  though  the  occasions  of  worship  and  the  sacra- 


42 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ments  still  took  the  people  to  Berthelsdorf.  Zinzendorf  fre- 
quently occupied  the  speaker's  desk.  Provision  for  a  thorough 
culture  of  spiritual  life  was  made  by  the  subdivision  of  the  con- 
gregation into  the  "bands"  or  "classes"  according  to  sex  and 
spiritual  affinity,  each  "band"  choosing  its  own  leader.  These 
"bands"  were  not  identical  with  the  "choirs"  of  a  later  date. 
It  is  true  that  in  1728  those  of  the  unmarried  men  who  were 
living  in  homes  where  the  heads  of  the  famiUes  were  likely  to 
be  absent  much  of  the  time  on  account  of  work,  in  order  to 
avoid  all  occasion  for  reproach  moved  into  one  house  where 
they  lived  by  themselves,  and  on  May  14th,  1730,  Anna  Nitsch- 
mann  and  seventeen  single  women  covenanted  together  to  have 
their  entire  life  and  all  its  relationships,  even  thoughts  of  mar- 
riage, subordinated  to  the  service  of  Christ ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  there  existed  at  this  time  any  systematic  division 
of  the  entire  congregation  according  to  sex  and  condition  in 
life,  with  all  that  the  "choir  system"  entailed.  The  subordina- 
tion of  the  family  life  to  the  "choir"  regulations  took  place  only 

\/  after  Zinzendorf  had  developed  the  theological  conceptions 
which  he  deduced  from  the  truth  that  the  perfect  life  of  Christ  ys 
well  as  His  sufterings  and  death  avail  for  man's  salvation.  As 
yet  "band  meetings,"  with  their  opportunity  for  free  utterance  of 
personal  experience,  were  voluntary  associations  for  the  cul- 
ture of  Christian  life,  though  the  transition  to  the  later  "choir- 
meetings"  was  anticipated  in  the  brief  addresses  of  Zinzendorf 
to  the  different  "bands"  (Vicrtcl  Stunden)  on  Sunday  afternoons. 
The  first  germs  of  his  thought  that  the  merits  of  Christ  are  to 

I  be  applied  in  a  mysterious  manner  to  the  various  relations  of 
sex  and  age  appear  in  a  hymn,  "Auf  Maria  Verkitndigung," 
which  he  wrote  in  July,  1729.  Time  must  be  allowed  for  the 
development  of  this  conception,  and  for  the  change  from  volun- 
tary connection  with  a  "band"  into  compulsory  membership  in 
a  "choir ;"  so  that  the  "choir  system"  as  such  is  not  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  Herrnhut  in  these  years.  In  its  complete  develop- 
ment it  belongs  rather  to  the  Wetteravian  era. 

But  in  addition  to  the  frequent  meetings  of  the  "bands"  other 
and  ample  provision  was  made  for  the  religious  life  of  Herrn- 
hut. Daily  services  were  held  soon  after  dawn,  with  a  similar 
brief  season  of  devotions  for  the  aged  and  infirm  at  8.30,  and 
a  service  for  the  children  at  10.  On  Sunday  the  sermon  which 
has  been  preached  by  Rothe  at  Berthelsdorf,  was  repeated  at 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


43 


Herrnhut  in  the  afternoon  by  Zinzendorf  or  by  some  other  lay- 
man for  the  benefit  of  those  who  had  been  unable  to  proceed 
to  the  parish  church.  Gradually  visitors  from  the  surrounding 
country  frequented  this  service,  which  thus  obtained  the  name 
of  Fremdenstiinde,  whilst  in  contrast  the  evening  service  was 
known  as  the  Gemeinstwide,  it  being  especially  designed  to 
edify  those  who  were  assured  of  their  relationship  to  the 
Saviour.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1728,  the  so-called  Bcttag 
or  Gemeintag  was  instituted.  This  was  a  monthly  festival, 
mainly  set  apart  for  the  reading  of  reports  or  letters  from 
Christian  friends,  but  later  especially  from  missionaries  in 
various  fields  of  labor.  Numerous  services  were  held.  The 
occasion  awakened  much  enthusiasm  and  fostered  the  mis- 
sionary spirit. 

Marriages  and  baptisms  were  conducted  in  a  simple  and 
unostentatious  manner,  Rothe  always  officiating.  In  1730  bap- 
tisms were  transferred  to  Herrnhut.  In  the  same  year  the 
celebrated  "Hutberg"  cemetery  was  laid  out.  No  outward 
show  of  mourning  in  dress  was  allowed ;  for  the  departed  had 
"gone  home."  In  1732  the  celebration  of  Easter  morning  in 
the  open  air  took  place  for  the  first  time.  In  1733  the  mid- 
night watch-meeting,  on  New  Year's  Eve,  was  introduced. 

The  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  was  attended  with 
great  solemnity,  and  various  preparatory  services  were  cus- 
tomary. At  first  the  sacrament  was  enjoyed  only  four  times 
a  year,  but  in  1731  a  monthly  communion  was  instituted,  the 
participants  still  proceeding  to  Berthelsdorf.  Later  a  transfer 
was  made  to  Herrnhut,  Rothe  officiating  as  before.  Theo- 
logically the  Brethren  refrained  from  attempts  to  explain  the 
words  of  institution,  the  principles  of  their  spiritual  forefathers 
prevaiKng  in  this  respect.  The  words  of  Christ  were  accepted 
in  all  simplicity,  without  subjecting  them  to  any  human  inter- 
pretation. The  chief  care  remained  that  all  the  members 
should  worthily  partake.  To  this  end  private  examination  was 
enjoined  on  all.  The  elders  and  their  helpers  conversed  singly 
with  each  individual.  If  any  one  was  found  not  to  be  in  the 
proper  frame  of  mind,  he  was  advised  to  remain  away  from  the 
Lord's  table.  After  having  enjoyed  the  sacrament  at  Berthels- 
dorf, the  communicants  assembled  in  the  chapel  at  Herrnhut, 
being  seated  according  to  sex ;  then  during  the  singing  of  a 
hymn  which  treated  of  brotherly  love,  the  kiss  of  peace  was 


44 


A  HISTORY  OF 


given.  Candidates  for  admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper  prior 
to  confirmation  not  only  received  a  careful  instruction  in  the 
doctrines  of  religion,  but  were  also  privately  counseled  by  the 
elders  and  trained  in  all  spiritual  things. 

Lovefeasts,  based  on  the  aya~ai  of  the  primitive  church  (Jude 
V.  12),  were  originally  of  a  private  character.  On  days 
of  special  significance,  or  on  Sunday  evenings,  or  in  connection 
with  weddings,  they  were  held  at  Zinzendorf's  house,  and  only 
a  small  company  participated.  The  elders  also  had  their  love- 
feasts  amongst  themselves.  At  such  times  the  service  con- 
sisted of  singing,  conversation,  and  rehgious  narratives. 
Usually  water  and  bread  were  served,  or  water  only. 

The  washing  of  feet,  Pedclavhim,  in  imitation  of  Christ's 
example,  recorded  in  John  13,  originally  occurred  in  single 
instances  only,  on  the  arrival  of  distinguished  friends  or  breth- 
ren at  Herrnhut,  according  to  I  Timothy  5:10.  The  usage 
was  not  general,  nor  did  it  form  a  part  of  the  ritual.  Never- 
theless Rothe  took  great  offense  at  it,  claiming  that  it  would 
tend  to  sectarianism  and  depreciation  of  the  value  of  the  sacra- 
ments. 

The  "Text-book"  originated  in  1728.  In  the  early  part  of  this 
year  Zinzendorf  delivered  addresses  in  the  daily  singing  meet- 
ings, either  on  a  text  of  Scripture,  or  on  a  stanza  from  a  hymn. 
On  the  3d  of  May  he  recommended  the  stanza  constituting 
his  theme  as  the  Losiing,  or  watchword,  for  the  congrega- 
tion on  the  following  day.  This  usage  was  continued  every 
evening,  and  a  copy  of  the  watchwords  was  preserved. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  year  and  early  in  the  next,  Zinzendorf, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  elders,  made  a  collection  of  Scripture 
texts.  This  collection  was  completed  on  June  29.  Out  of 
it  an  elder  drew  a  text  at  the  evening  service.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning  this  text  was  made  known  in  every  house  in 
Herrnhut  as  the  word  for  the  day.  A  brief  exhortation  might 
be  added.  The  same  usage  was  continued  in  1730.  In  1731, 
however,  a  collection  of  texts  was  printed  for  the  first  time. 
Since  then  this  devotional  manual  has  been  issued  every  year. 

Yet  another  marked  feature  of  the  inner  life  of  Herrnhut 
was  the  frequent  recourse  to  the  guidance  of  the  lot  when  in 
perplexity.  It  was  employed  in  the  selection  of  the  first  elders 
in  1727,  but  whether  it  was  used  officially  in  other  cases  prior 
to  1728  does  not  appear.    Then  it  was  introduced  as  a  custom- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


45 


ary  mode  of  deciding  questions  in  church  councils  and  confer- 
ences. In  July,  1732,  it  was  employed  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
posed marriage  of  John  Toltschig  and  Julia  Haberland,  and 
after  1733  its  voluntary  use  in  connection  with  marriages  be- 
came frequent. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  case  a  community  of  zealous 
Christians  like  the  people  of  Herrnhut — by  the  year  1730 
fifty-six  of  them  had  borne  chains  for  Christ's  sake — could  not 
remain  isolated,  the  more  so  on  account  of  Zinzendorf's  rank 
and  his  previous  extensive  correspondence  with  friends  of  the 
Pietistic  movement.  Already  in  September,  1727,  with  the 
prayers  of  the  congregation,  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic, 
and  John  Nitschmann  were  dispatched  to  Copenhagen,  where 
they  were  most  kindly  received  by  Prince  Charles  and  Princess 
Hedwig  Sophia,  by  Chamberlain  von  Pless  and  Baron  Sohlen- 
thal.  They  returned  with  a  manuscript  account  of  Hans  " 
Egede's  work  in  Greenland.  Andrew  Beyer  and  Gottlieb 
Wried  were  sent  to  Prince  Christian  Ernest  of  Saalfeld  and 
to  Professor  Buddaeus  of  Jena.  During  this  visit  Beyer  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  Augustus  GottHeb  Spangenberg,  a 
student  at  Jena,  and  the  connection  was  formed  from  which 
sprang  an  association  of  members  of  the  University  who  were 
in  sympathy  with  Herrnhut,  many  of  whom  later  entered  the 
Moravian  ministry.  Buddaeus  sent  a  letter  of  cordial  greet- 
ings by  the  hands  of  the  messengers.  Zinzendorf  himself  vis- 
ited Thuringia  during  the  same  year,  with  several  of  the  Mora- 
vians as  his  companions.  Christian  David  and  David  Nitsch- 
mann, his  fellow-craftsman,  itinerated  in  Austrian  territory. 
Andrew  Beyer  next  went  to  Teschen  in  Silesia.  Augustine 
Neisser  visited  Sorau  in  Hungary.  Melchior  Nitschmann  and 
George  Schmidt,  penetrating  into  Moravia,  were  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  Nitschmann  to  die  and  Schmidt  to  meditate  for 
years  in  a  dungeon  as  a  preparation  for  missionary  work  in 
Africa.  Wenceslaus  Neisser,  John  Toltschig  and  David 
Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  proceeding  to  England  in  order  to 
form  a  connection  with  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
Christian  Knowledge,  failed  in  their  purpose,  but  were  kindly 
received  by  the  Countess  Lippe-Schaumberg,  a  lady  of  the 
court  who  belonged  to  Zinzendorf's  circle  of  friends,  and 
at  least  indirectly  gave  the  initiative  to  the  work  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church  in  Britain.    Melchior  Zeisberger  was  dispatched 


46 


A  HISTORY  OF 


to  Stockholm.  Christian  David  and  Timothy  Fiedler,  in  1729, 
proceeding  by  way  of  Berlin,  where  they  visited  Bishop  Daniel 
Ernest  Jabionski,  one  of  the  two  surviving  bishops  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  went  to  Riga  and  Reval,  and  were  later  fol- 
lowed by  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic — a  prelude  to  exten- 
sive activity  in  the  Baltic  Provinces.  Others  went  to  Switzer- 
land, by  way  of  Tiibingen,  and  thence  visited  the  Westerwalde 
and  Wetteravia,  and  Zinzendorf  himself  journeyed  to  Berle- 
burg,  and  repeatedly  to  Jena,  where  he  organized  the  Christian 
union  of  the  students. 

Meantime  Herrnhut  grew  and  the  immigrations  from  Mora- 
via continued.  In  1731  seventy-four  refugees  arrived.  But 
the  gradual  separation  from  the  parish  of  Berthelsdorf  and  the 
State  Church  was  not  to  be  accomplised  without  inner  friction 
as  well  as  antagonism  from  outside.  At  least  two  specially 
formidable  crises  arose. 

During  Zinzendorf's  absence  in  the  summer  of  1728,  Rothe 
and  other  Lutheran  ministers  of  the  neighborhood  persuaded 
Christian  David  and  some  of  the  elders  to  give  up  the  name 
and  regulations  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  and  to  amalgamate 
entirely  and  absolutely  with  the  State  Church.  It  was  plausi- 
bly asserted  that  by  taking  such  a  step  their  true  catholicity 
would  be  increased,  and  that  not  only  would  they  themselves 
escape  all  persecution,  but  also  prevent  persecutions  from 
being  brought  upon  evangelical  believers  in  Austrian  terri- 
tory, whom  the  Roman  Catholics  identified  with  them.  The 
stanchcst  and  most  influential  of  the  Moravians  were  at  the 
time  absent  on  journeys.  By  most  of  those  who  happened 
to  be  at  home  the  new  idea  was  favorably  received,  though 
others  vigorously  opposed  it.  Christian  David  and  Andrew 
Beyer  were  dispatched  to  Zinzendorf  at  Jena  to  tell  him  of  the 
proposal.  He  and  the  Moravians  who  were  with  him  protested 
against  it.  They  sent  a  letter  to  Herrnhut  embodying  their 
objections,  and  another  was  drawn  up  by  Spangenberg,  and 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  two  students  and  professors,  be- 
seeching the  people  of  Herrnhut  not  to  cast  away  the  legacy 
received  from  their  fathers.  Zinzendorf  added  a  positive  re- 
fusal to  consent  to  it,  with  a  reminder  of  his  rights  as  feudal 
lord.  He  foresaw  that  the  true  Moravians  would  instantly 
leave  Herrnhut,  break  away  altogether  from  the  State  Church, 
and  thus  be  deprived  of  Christian  liberty.    Besides  he  consid- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


47 


ered  an  attempt  to  avoid  persecution  unworthy.  On  his  return 
the  scheme  fell  through. 

But  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1731  Zinzendorf  himself  pro- 
posed and  earnestly  advocated  the  very  thing  which  he  had  so 
vigorously  antagonized.  Probably  he  was  influenced  by  the  dis- 
satisfaction with  regard  to  the  developments  at  Herrnhut, 
expressed  by  those  of  his  opponents  whose  piety  he  respected. 
This  new  crisis  was  far  more  perilous  than  the  former.  The 
man  who  by  force  of  personal  character  and  circumstances 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  community  now  advocated  the  change. 
On  the  7th  of  January  the  subject  was  laid  before  the  church 
council.  It  met  with  strenuous  opposition  from  the  Moravians. 
Finally  it  was  agreed  that  the  whole  matter  should  be  referred 
there  and  then  to  the  decision  of  the  lot.  Two  tickets  were 
prepared.  On  one  of  them  stood,  "Brethren,  stand  fast,  and 
hold  the  traditions  which  ye  have  been  taught,"  2  Thess.  2:15. 
On  the  other  was  written,  "To  them  that  are  without  law,  as 
without  law,"  i  Cor.  9:21.  All  being  ready,  Zinzendorf's  son, 
Christian  Renatus,  a  young  lad,  was  called  in,  and  drew  one 
of  the  tickets.  It  was  the  former.  Zinzendorf's  implicit  faith 
in  the  lot  led  him  at  once  to  yield.  He  was  more  and  more 
persuaded  that  God  had  some  special  purpose  with  Herrnhut. 

But  now  the  ever  growing  opposition  from  outside  assumed 
serious  proportions.  This  was  in  part  owing  to  the  continued 
immigrations  from  Moravia,  and  in  part  owing  to  the  dissatis- 
faction of  neighboring  clergymen  and  of  the  leading  Pietists 
at  Halle.  Formal  accusations  were  laid  before  the  Saxon 
court,  both  by  Zinzendorf's  personal  enemies  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  a  dangerous  man,  and  by  the  Austrian  government 
on  the  allegation  that  he  was  enticing  its  subjects  to  remove 
to  his  estates.  He  therefore  asked  for  a  judicial  investigation. 
This  was  granted.  From  January  19  to  22,  1732,  the  Prefect 
of  Gorlitz,  Baron  George  Ernest  von  Gersdorf,  by  royal  com- 
mission thoroughly  examined  into  the  aflfairs  of  Herrnhut. 
Emigrants  from  twenty-three  places  were  questioned  concern- 
ing their  migration.  The  result  was  a  most  favorable  report. 
Government  took  no  action,  however,  until  August  of  the  fol- 
lowing year ;  but  in  March  Zinzendorf  asked  for  permission  to 
resign  his  office  in  the  service  of  the  State,  and  obtained  his 
request.  The  further  reception  of  refugees  from  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  was  next  prohibited.    Nor  did  the  intrigues  of 


48 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  Count's  enemies  cease.  They  sought  to  have  him  impris- 
oned in  the  fortress  of  Konigstein,  but  failed.  Yet  there  were 
indications  that  they  would  achieve  his  banishment.  He  there- 
fore anticipated  the  decree  by  carrying  into  full  effect  the  trans- 
fer of  his  estates  to  his  wife,  and  especially  of  those  acquired 
since  their  marriage.  In  November,  1732,  an  order  was  re- 
ceived from  the  Saxon  Court,  directing  him  to  aUenate  his 
property.  Fortunately  the  decree  came  too  late.  Had  his 
estates  passed  into  hostile  or  even  unsympathetic  hands,  the 
Moravians  at  Herrnhut  would  undoubtedly  have  been  dis- 
persed. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


49 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  FIRST  DECADE  OF  THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

Of  the  various  affiliations  effected  by  Count  Zinzendorf 
that  with  the  Danish  court  was  destined  to  be  of  first  and  most 
immediate  significance.  That  the  man  who  in  youth  estab- 
lished his  "Order  of  the  Mustard  Seed"  had  been  observant  of 
movements  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world  is  apparent 
from  the  fact  that  when  David  and  John  Nitschmann  were  sent 
in  1727  to  Prince  Charles,  the  brother  of  Frederick  the  Fourth, 
at  Copenhagen,  they  had  instructions  to  inquire  whether  the 
Brethren  could  be  of  service  in  connection  with  the  under- 
taking of  the  Lutheran  missionary,  Hans  Egede,  in  Greenland. 
Since  1708  this  large-hearted  servant  of  Christ  had  devoted 
himself  to  an  ef¥ort  in  behalf  of  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Norse  settlers  on  the  east  coast  of  that  dreary  land,  whom  he 
hoped  to  find  and  lead  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  When  at 
last  he  was  able  to  make  his  way  thither,  in  1721,  disappoint- 
ment was  inevitable,  for  no  such  people  could  be  discovered. 
But  his  attention  had  been  turned  to  the  Eskimos,  and  to  them 
he  heroically  ministered  for  their  bodity  diseases,  though  as 
yet  he  could  not  find  the  key  to  unlock  their  hearts.  The 
Danish  king  seconded  his  project  with  an  attempt  to  found  a 
colony  of  soldiers  and  traders,  but  the  results  had  been  inade- 
quate. Nor  was  this  the  only  manifestation  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  Danish  court  with  the  promotion  of  vital  religion.  Its 
well-known  attitude  in  religious  affairs  had  long  awakened  in 
Zinzendorf  a  desire  to  enter  the  service  of  this  pronouncedly 
Christian  government,  and  at  that  to  becom.e  a  court  preacher, 
if  it  could  be  brought  about  without  a  surrender  of  conscien- 
tious convictions.  Ever  since  the  death  of  his  grandmother, 
in  1726,  this  had  been  a  cherished  purpose.  He  as  yet  by  no 
means  proposed  to  confine  his  energies  to  the  interests  of  the 
5 


50 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Moravians,  considering  himself  Ein  freier  Knecht  des  Herrn — a 
free  volunteer  in  the  service  of  Christ. 

In  October,  1730,  Frederick  the  Fourth  died.  The  acces- 
sion of  Christian  the  Sixth,  whose  coronation  was  appointed 
for  the  following  May,  seemed  to  oflfer  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  the  Count,  ready  as  he  was  to  surrender  his  Saxon  office. 
On  April  25th  he  therefore  set  out,  with  David  Nitschmann, 
the  future  bishop,  and  two  other  Moravians  as  his  companions. 
The  visit  in  Copenhagen  was  a  protracted  one.  Having  pre- 
viously been  on  a  footing  of  intimacy  with  several  members  of 
the  court,  he  was  received  with  distinguished  kindness.  In 
token  of  sympathy  with  his  zeal  in  the  service  of  God,  the  king 
decorated  him  with  the  Order  of  the  Danebrog,  in  June.  But 
his  wish  for  some  oflfice  was  not  gratified. 

Yet  this  failure,  like  several  failures  of  Zinzendorf's  plans 
during  these  years  in  connection  with  affairs  beyond  the  hori- 
zon of  the  Moravians,  became  pregnant  in  results  for  Herrnhut. 
Two  widely  separated  Macedonian  cries  met  with  a  response 
in  consequence.  On  the  one  hand  the  Count  learnt  to  his 
sorrow  that  the  royal  policy  with  regard  to  Greenland  had 
been  reversed  and  the  soldiers  and  artisans  recalled.  He  also 
met  two  Eskimos  from  whom  he  heard  that  Egede's  efforts 
were  on  the  verge  of  failure,  and  that  he  sorely  needed  help. 
On  the  other  hand,  Anthony,  the  negro  body  servant  of  Count 
Laurwig,  described  most  pathetically  the  dark  moral  and  intel- 
lectual and  religious  condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  Danish  W est 
Indies.  These  things  led  him  to  plan  forthwith  for  missions 
in  Greenland  and  Lapland,  and  in  Africa  and  America.  He 
requested  and  received  permission  to  take  Anthony  with  him 
to  Herrnhut. 

Herrnhut  had  been  providentially  prepared  for  this  visit. 
Already  in  1644  or  1645  Comenius  in  his  Judicum  duplex  de 
regula  fidei  had  set  forth  the  truth  that  the  evangelization  of 
the  heathen  is  an  imperative  obligation  for  a  living  church,  and 
had  planned  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Turkish 
as  preparatory  to  the  propagation  of  the  faith  in  Moslem  lands. 
And  the  spiritual  sons  of  Comenius  had  already  been  vouch- 
safed a  recognition  of  the  duty  of  evangelization  as  binding 
upon  them.  On  the  loth  of  February,  1728,  a  memorable  day 
of  prayer  had  been  observed  in  Herrnhut.  Zinzendorf  and  his 
brethren  had  conferred  together  in  addresses  interspersed  with 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


51 


hymns  and  prayers,  how  they  might  venture  upon  some  worthy 
undertaking  for  God.  Distant  lands  had  been  named  to  be 
won  for  Him — Turkey  and  Africa,  Greenland  and  Lapland. 
"But  it  is  impossible  to  find  a  way  thither,"  some  had  said. 
Zinzendorf  had  repHed,  "The  Lord  can  and  will  give  grace  and 
strength  for  this."  His  reply  and  child-like  faith  had  so  in- 
spired all,  that  on  the  following  day  twenty-six  unmarried 
brethren  had  come  together,  with  a  view  to  prepare  to  answer 
the  call  of  the  Lord  when  it  came  to  them.  The  missionary 
purpose  was  already  there,  and  needed  only  the  external  occa- 
sion to  change  it  to  the  missionary  deed.  This  occasion  was 
now  to  be  furnished. 

"On  the  23d  of  July,"  says  Spangenberg,  "the  day  after  the 
Count  returned  to  Herrnhut,  he  reported,  in  the  meeting  then 
held,  what  he  had  heard  in  Copenhagen  with  regard  to  the 
wretched  state  of  the  negroes.  By  the  grace  of  God,  his  words 
produced  such  an  effect  upon  Leonard  Dober,  that  he  there 
and  then  resolved  to  offer  himself  as  a  missionary  to  these 
poor  enslaved  races.  The  same  resolution  was  formed  at  the 
same  time  by  another  of  the  Brethren,  Tobias  Leopold;  but 
though  they  were  intimate  friends,  they  said  nothing  to  each 
other  on  the  subject  till  they  had  spread  the  matter  before  the 
Lord.  After  an  almost  sleepless  night,  Leonard  Dober  opened 
the  Bible,  on  the  morning  of  Jul}^  24,  to  seek  for  some  direc- 
tion from  above,  and  his  eye  fell  upon  Deut.  32:47,  Tt  is  not 
a  vain  thing  for  you ;  because  it  is  your  life ;  and  through  this 
thing  ye  shall  prolong  your  days  in  the  land,  whither  ye  go 
over  Jordan  to  possess  it.'  The  words  greatly  strength 
ened  him.  He  then  communicated  his  thougths  to  Leopold, 
by  whom  they  were  warmly  reciprocated.  They  then  knelt  to- 
gether before  God,  and  told  Him  the  desire  of  their  hearts.  On 
the  25th  of  July  Leopold  wrote  to  the  Count,  and  informed 
him  that  he  and  Dober  felt  impelled  to  go  and  preach  to  the 
negroes.  That  evening  their  letter  was  read  in  the  singing- 
meeting,  without  any  mention  of  names.  On  the  29th  the 
negro  Anthony  arrived  from  Copenhagen,  and  a  short  time 
afterwards  gave  his  own  account,  in  one  of  the  meetings  of 
the  Brethren,  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  black  popula- 
tion in  the  West  Indies.  But  he  stated  it  as  his  behef  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  a  missionary  to  reach  these  poor 
creatures  in  any  other  way  than  by  becoming  a  slave  himself. 


52 


A  HISTORY  OF 


for  their  toils  were  so  incessant  and  exhausting  that  there  was 
no  opportunity  of  instructing  them,  except  when  they  were  at 
work." 

This  prospect  did  not  deter  Dober  or  Leopold,  but  rather 
confirmed  them  in  their  resolution.  The  matter  being  then 
referred  to  the  church  council,  it  was  decided  by  lot  that 
Dober  should  go  to  the  West  Indies,  but  that  Leopold  should 
remain  a  while  longer  in  Herrnhut.  Even  before  Anthony  had 
made  his  personal  appeal,  the  example  of  the  two  friends 
affected  their  companions  so  powerfully  that  two  others,  Mat- 
thew Stach  and  Frederick  Bohnisch,  offered  to  go  to  Green- 
land. But  in  the  case  of  each  and  all  Zinzendorf  deemed  it 
wise  to  delay  their  actual  departure,  that  their  fitness  might  be 
thoroughly  tested.  It  was  therefore  not  until  August  21, 
1732,  that  Dober,  now  twenty-six  years  of  age,  set  out  for 
Copenhagen  on  foot,  with  David  Nitschmann,  the  carpenter, 
nine  years  his  senior,  as  his  companion.  They  had  each  one 
ducat,  and  had  also  three  thaler  in  common — their  sole  re- 
sources for  a  journey  of  several  thousand  miles.  Wherever 
they  came,  as  they  proceeded  via  Wernigerode  and  Hansberg, 
ridicule  or  dissuasion  formed  their  welcome,  with  the  sole  ex- 
ception of  the  cordial  encouragement  received  from  Countess 
Stollberg-Wernigerode.  Nevertheless  they  remained  firm,  and 
at  Copenhagen  Counts  Reuss  and  Blum  were  won  by  this  deter- 
mined front,  and  becoming  their  advocates  at  the  court,  ren- 
dered various  services  in  furtherance  of  their  project.  Thus 
at  last,  on  October  8,  1732,  they  set  sail,  Nitschmann  having 
secured  work  as  ship's  carpenter,  and  reached  St.  Thomas  on 
December  13. 

The  island  had  been  in  the  possession  of  Denmark  for  sixty- 
six  years.  When  Erik  Smidt,  of  the  good  ship  De  Endracht, 
took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  his  Majesty  Frederick  the 
Third,  he  found  about  a  dozen  English  and  Dutch  families  on  its 
soil.  As  early  as  1680  there  were  fifty  tobacco  plantations,  and 
slaves  were  already  employed.  The  poor  Caribs  were  dwind- 
ling away  into  extinction,  leaving  a  few  carvings  on  rocks  at 
Rif  Bay  and  scanty  celts  to  tell  the  meager  story  of  their  owner- 
ship of  the  Virgin  Islands.  Christian  the  Fifth,  in  accordance 
with  the  sentiment  of  his  times,  directly  encouraged  the  impor- 
tation of  African  slave  labor  by  establishing  forts  on  the  Gold 
Coast  and  ordering  ships  thither  to  secure  negroes  for  St. 


LEONARD  DOBER. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


53 


Thomas.  By  1732,  thanks  to  the  trade  in  tobacco,  St.  Thomas 
had  become  a  flourishing  port.  Its  houses  of  brick,  one  story 
in  height,  paved  with  tiles  and  whitewashed  in  the  interior,  were 
arranged  along  one  long  street,  conforming  to  the  shape  of  the 
bay,  and  along  two  shorter  streets,  near  the  handsome  factory 
of  the  Danish  Company,  and  were  occupied  chiefly  by  the 
families  of  numerous  Huguenot  refugees.  A  fort  served  to 
assert  the  majest}^  of  the  Danish  flag.  The  well-tilled,  though 
small,  estates  in  the  interior  produced  indigo,  sugar-cane, 
manioc,  millet,  sweet  potatoes,  and  all  kinds  of  fruit  and  herbs, 
in  addition  to  tobacco. 

Long  before  the  arrival  of  Dober  and  Nitschmann  provision 
had  been  made  for  the  religious  welfare  of  the  colonists.  In- 
deed Jorgen  Iwersen,  who  became  the  first  governor  in  1672, 
was  a  martinet  in  every  relationship  of  Hfe.  Under  his  regime 
every  inhabitant  was  obliged  to  attend  service  every  Sunday 
in  Christiansfort  at  drum-beat,  under  penalty  of  twenty  pounds 
of  tobacco.  He  who  worked  or  allowed  his  men  to  work  on  the 
Lord's  day  was  liable  to  a  fine  of  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco.  But 
for  the  spiritual  care  and  enlightenment  of  the  blacks  nothing 
was  done.  The  type  of  religion  dominant  amongst  the  whites 
was  distinguished  by  narrow  intolerance  and  a  comfortable 
belief  in  one's  own  predestined  inheritance  of  heaven  together 
with  a  large  measure  of  indifference  as  to  the  predestination 
of  any  other  man.  In  fact  the  poor  slaves  had  hitherto  sup- 
posed that  to  rejoice  in  a  Saviour  was  a  perquisite  of  their 
masters,  while  obeahism  and  fetishism  were  sufficiently  good 
for  them.  Great  was  their  delight  when  on  the  third  Sunday 
in  Advent,  1732,  the  Moravian  missionaries  commenced  their 
labors  with  the  message,  "The  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them." 

Dober  and  Nitschmann  were  at  first  the  guests  of  a  planter 
who  received  them  into  his  house  on  the  strength  of  a  letter 
of  recommendation.  Anna  and  Abraham,  the  sister  and  brother 
of  Anthony,  made  easy  their  approach  to  the  slaves.  For  four 
months  Nitschmann  supported  his  companion  and  himself  by 
working  at  his  craft.  But  it  had  not  been  intended  that  he 
should  remain  permanently.  In  April,  1733,  he  therefore  re- 
turned to  Europe.  Dober  for  a  time  found  himself  in  great 
straits.  As  a  potter  he  could  gain  no  employment.  Governor 
Gardelin  then  kindly  offered  him  the  position  of  steward  of  his 


54 


A  HISTORY  OF 


household,  and  so  saved  him  from  the  worst  distress.  But  this 
occupation  left  too  little  leisure  for  his  more  important  work. 
Hence  next  year  he  cut  loose  from  this  assured  means  of  liveli- 
hood, and  earned  a  precarious  living  as  a  watchman  in  town 
and  on  the  cotton-plantations,  content,  nevertheless,  since  now 
he  could  devote  far  more  attenttion  to  the  negroes. 

To  be  thus  identified  with  the  blacks  at  this  time  made  heavy- 
demands  upon  moral  courage.  It  involved  social  ostracism 
as  a  matter  of  course,  possibly  even  something  worse.  For 
the  little  island  of  St.  John,  only  four  miles  away  and  under 
the  same  jurisdiction,  was  the  scene  of  terrible  events.  Colon- 
ized only  in  1716,  its  slave  population  so  outnumbered  the 
whites  that  the  most  stringent  regulations  had  been  framed  to 
keep  the  former  in  subjection  born  of  abject  fear.  Amongst 
the  provisions  of  this  awful  code  were  the  following:  "The 
leader  of  runaway  slaves  shall  be  pinched  three  times  with  a 
red-hot  iron,  and  then  hung.  Each  other  runaway  slave  shall 
lose  one  leg,  or  if  the  owner  pardon  him,  shall  lose  one  ear  and 
receive  one  hundred  and  fifty  stripes.  Any  slave  being  aware 
of  the  intention  of  others  to  run  away  and  not  giving  informa- 
tion, shall  be  burned  in  the  forehead  and  receive  one  hundred 
stripes.  Slaves  who  steal  to  the  value  of  four  rix-dollars  shall 
be  pinched  and  hung;  less  than  four  rix-dollars,  shall  be 
branded  and  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty  stripes.  A  slave 
who  lifts  his  hand  to  strike  a  white  person,  or  threaten  him 
with  violence,  shall  be  pinched  and  hung,  should  the  white 
person  demand  it;  if  not,  shall  lose  his  right  hand.  A 
slave  meeting  a  white  person,  shall  step  aside  and  wait  until 
he  passes ;  if  not,  he  may  be  flogged.  No  estate  slave 
shall  be  in  town  after  drum-beat ;  otherwise  he  shall  be 
put  in  the  fort  and  flogged."  On  the  13th  of  November,  1733, 
a  sanguinary  insurrection  broke  out.  Except  on  one  estate, 
where  an  old  Englishman,  assisted  by  fugitive  planters  who  had 
gathered  around  him,  fought  oflf  the  insurgents,  only  one  white 
man  survived,  a  surgeon  who  was  spared  on  condition  of  at- 
tending to  wounded  slaves.  It  required  the  aid  of  French  sol- 
diers from  Martinique  before  the  military  force  in  St.  Thomas 
could  quell  the  rebellion.  Even  then,  when  the  last  three 
hundred  insurgents  had  been  surrounded,  they  preferred  suicide 
to  surrender.  The  general  sentiment  of  the  colonists  was 
therefore  scarcely  favorable  to  the  undertaking  of  Dober. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


55 


The  more  rejoiced  was  he  when  in  June,  1734,  Tobias 
Leopold  and  seventeen  others  arrived,  some  of  whom  were  to 
continue  the  work  which  he  had  commenced,  and  others  to 
colonize  and  evangelize  St.  Croix  at  the  solicitation  of  Cham- 
berlain von  Pless.  He  himself  was  under  orders  to  return  to 
Europe,  to  assume  the  office  of  chief  elder,  rendered  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Martin  Linner.  With  him  sailed  an  orphan,  Car- 
mel  Oly,  the  first  fruits  of  his  work,  whose  freedom  had  been 
bought,  and  who  was  baptized  next  year  at  Ebersdorf,  receiving 
the  name  Joshua. 

St.  Croix  had  been  acquired  from  France  only  the  year  be- 
fore. Its  soil  was  more  fertile  than  that  of  St.  Thomas ;  but  it 
had  been  practically  abandoned  in  1720,  owing  to  successive 
droughts.  Dense  jungles  and  undergrowth  had  encroached 
upon  the  former  plantations.  Denmark  contemplated  sending 
thither  slave  labor,  and  in  anticipation  welcomed  missionary 
colonists.  But  they  had  arrived  in  no  proper  condition  to  face 
the  strain  of  Hfe  in  the  tropics.  Their  voyage  had  been  unduly 
prolonged  and  had  been  attended  with  severe  hardship.  They 
had  sailed  from  Stettin  on  November  12,  1733,  and  had  been 
seven  months  on  the  way,  having  been  driven  by  storms  into 
the  harbor  of  Tremmesand,  in  Norway,  and  compelled  to  winter 
there.  The  cabin  assigned  to  them,  though  eighteen  in  num- 
ber, bad  been  but  ten  feet  square,  so  overcrowded  was  the  ves- 
sel. Water  almost  failed  during  the  latter  part  of  the  voyage. 
Several  succumbed  to  yellow  fever  before  they  passed  from  St. 
Thomas  to  St.  Croix.  By  the  end  of  the  following  January 
eight  of  the  eighteen,  including  Leopold,  had  died.  In  Feb- 
ruary eleven  persons  set  out  from  Herrnhut  to  reenforce  them, 
and  Dr.  Grottausen,  of  Copenhagen,  also  volunteered.  But  the 
mortality  continued — the  physician  being  the  first  to  fall,  and 
then  four  others  of  the  new  comers  within  two  months.  During 
the  years  1725  and  1726  most  of  the  survivors  returned  home 
in  a  miserable  plight,  three  of  them  sufJering  shipwreck  en 
route.  The  last  survivor  in  December,  1736,  passed  over  to  St. 
Thomas  to  join  Frederick  Martin,  who  had  been  in  charge  of 
the  mission  there  since  March.  He  and  his  assistant,  Bonike, 
had  met  with  great  success  amongst  Dober's  catechumens. 
Their  hearers  sometimes  numbered  two  hundred. 

They  themselves  not  yet  being  ordained,  could  not  administer 
baptism  to  their  converts.     Augustus  Gottlieb  Spangenberg, 


56 


A  HISTORY  OF 


for  some  time  past  active  as  an  evangelist  amongst  the  Ger- 
mans of  Pennsylvania,  had  therefore  been  sent  thither  in  Sep- 
tember, and  on  the  30th  of  the  month  had  baptized  Andrew,  Paul 
and  Nathaniel,  who  became  the  nucleus  of  the  first  mission  con- 
gregation in  the  West  Indies.  The  opposition  of  white  planters 
continued  to  be  exceedingly  bitter,  the  more  so  because  the 
lives  of  many  of  them  were  a  reproach  to  the  gospel.  And  the 
opposition  deepened  when  in  August,  1727,  with  the  assistance 
of  a  friendly  planter  an  estate  was  purchased  for  the  mission, 
known  as  Posaunenberg — later  New  Herrnhut.  In  fact  they 
might  have  succeeded  in  their  design  to  crush  the  work,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  providential  arrival  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  in 
accordance  with  a  plan  of  visitation  formed  quite  independently 
of  knowledge  of  trouble  other  than  that  caused  by  fevers, 
scarcity  of  provisions  and  hindrances  of  a  general  nature.  On 
the  one  hand  he  wished  to  obtain  personal  insight  into  the  work 
of  the  mission ;  on  the  other  hand  he  desired  to  silence  the 
calumnies  of  certain  persons,  who  said  that  he  did  not  scruple 
to  send  his  brethren  to  pestilential  climates  but  was  afraid  to 
go  thither  himself.  On  approaching  the  island  in  the  latter 
part  of  January,  1739,  the  thought  of  the  terrible  death-rate 
amongst  the  missionaries  hitherto  led  him  to  say  to  one  of  his 
companions,  George  Weber,  a  Moravian  by  birth,  "Suppose 
that  the  brethren  are  no  longer  here ;  what  shall  we  do  in  that 
case?"  Weber's  instant  reply  was,  "In  that  case  we  are  here." 
The  calm  steadfastness  of  the  man.  so  characteristic  of  the 
Moravian  witness-spirit,  evoked  this  comment  from  the  aston- 
ished Count,  "Gens  aeterna,  diese  Maehrcn"  ("An  indestructible 
race,  these  Moravians"). 

He  found  the  missionaries  suffering  unjust  imprisonment  in 
most  wretched  quarters.  The  case  had  been  this.  The  Re- 
formed clergyman,  Borm,  according  to  his  own  statement,  had 
taken  upon  himself  to  examine  some  of  the  converted  negroes. 
They  were  not  willing  to  answer  his  captious  questions.  He 
therefore  instigated  the  Common  Council  to  petition  the  Gov- 
ernor to  prohibit  the  Brethren  from  baptizing  their  converts, 
and  to  compel  a  certain  missionary,  whose  marriage  had  been 
performed  by  Martin,  to  have  the  ceremony  repeated  by  a  cler- 
gyman of  the  State  Church.  The  Governor  had  too  much 
confidence  in  the  Brethren  to  be  drawn  into  the  scheme.  Then 
their  foes  raised  up  the  false  charge  of  a  robbery,  from  which 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


57 


the  Brethren  were  required  to  clear  themselves  by  oath.  This 
they  had  not  been  willing  to  do,  all  taking  of  oaths  being  con- 
trary to  their  conscientious  convictions.  Zinzendorf's  indigna- 
tion was  excessive,  on  learning  these  facts.  He  at  once  waited 
upon  the  Governor  with  a  demand  for  their  immediate  release. 
It  was  granted  next  day,  with  an  apology  for  what  had  hap- 
pened. 

The  visiting  brethren  were  astonished  at  the  extent  of  the 
work  and  its  success.  About  eight  hundred  blacks  were  under 
the  influence  of  the  gospel.  Daily,  in  the  evening,  the  converts 
assembled  for  worship,  and  Zinzendorf  himself  frequently  ad- 
dressed them.  After  his  farewell  address  at  Posaunenberg  they 
forgot  prudence  in  their  reHgious  enthusiasm,  and  some  of  them 
sought  to  accompany  him  to  town,  contrary  to  regulations. 
This  offered  an  excuse  to  their  enemies,  to  set  upon  them  and 
then  attack  the  mission  station.  The  missionaries  were  with 
Zinzendorf,  and  so  escaped  personal  harm  by  their  absence. 
But  much  damage  was  done  to  the  property.  Notwithstanding 
the  Governor's  expression  of  his  disapproval  of  the  riotous 
outrage,  when  a  protest  was  lodged  the  missionaries  later  ex- 
perienced personal  ill-treatment,  so  that  it  was  necessary  to 
retreat  to  the  woods  in  order  to  hold  services,  and  to  station 
sentries  against  a  sudden  attack.  But  on  Zinzendorf's  return 
to  Europe  his  personal  representations,  together  with  petitions 
from  influential  friends,  secured  from  the  Danish  crown  con- 
cessions practically  guaranteeing  liberty  of  worship. 

Not  long  after  a  sad  catastrophe  threw  a  shadow  over  the 
work.  Theodore  Feder  and  Christian  Gottlieb  Israel,  after 
having  been  ordained  for  service  here,  set  sail  from  Texel  on 
November  17,  1739.  On  January  17  their  vessel  struck  on  a 
reef  near  Tortola.  The  sailors  took  to  their  boat,  and  left  the 
missionaries  to  their  fate.  Feder,  hoping  to  swim  ashore,  let 
himself  down  from  the  ship  and  perished  before  the  eyes  of  his 
companion,  whose  calm  farewell  sounded  forth  in  imperishable 
faith,  "Depart,  my  brother,  in  peace."  For  hours  he  clung  to 
the  wreck,  sustaining  his  confidence  with  hymns.  At  last-  he 
was  rescued  by  people  from  the  shore,  and  was  hospitably 
cared  for.  A  month  later  he  joined  Frederick  Martin,  and 
during  the  same  3'ear  with  George  Weber  and  his  wife  moved 
to  St.  Croix,  to  recommence  the  mission  on  that  island.  Their 


58 


A  HISTORY  OF 


first  converts  were  baptized  in  1744,  though  land  for  the  first 
mission  station  was  not  acquired  until  1755 — Friedensthal. 

The  year  1741  was  signaUzed  by  the  extension  of  the  work 
to  St.  John,  when  a  pious  overseer,  Jens  Rasmus,  requested  the 
Brethren  in  St.  Thomas  to  preach  statedly  to  the  negroes  in  his 
charge.  Baptisms  took  place  in  1745,  but  a  resident  missionary 
was  not  stationed  there  until  1754,  when  John  Brucker  removed 
to  Bethania,  an  estate  purchased  in  1749. 

But  Greenland  had  not  been  forgotten. 

On  April  10,  1733,  the  good  ship  Caritas  left  Copen- 
hagen with  three  missionaries  on  board — Matthew  and  Chris- 
tian Stach,  cousins,  and  Christian  David.  They  knew  so  little 
of  its  climatic  and  other  conditions  that  they  had  spoken  of 
felling  trees  for  the  erection  of  their  house ;  but  no  hindrance 
could  deter  men  of  their  stamp,  whether  realized  or  unim- 
agined.  Fair  weather  was  succeeded  by  a  violent  storm  as 
they  neared  Greenland,  and  the  drift-ice  swept  around  threat- 
eningly ;  but  comfort  was  found  in  the  Daily  Word  at  debarka- 
tion, "The  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  shall 
keep  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus."  Egede's 
reception  of  them,  thanks  to  a  cordial  letter  of  recommenda- 
tion from  Chamberlain  von  Pless,  was  warmly  aflfectionate. 
About  a  mile  away  from  his  colony  they  selected  a  site  for  their 
home,  and  built  a  hut  of  stones  and  sod,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
natives. 

What  a  land  they  had  come  to !  Does  it  properly  belong  to 
America  or  to  Europe  ?  Only  a  narrow  strait  separates  it  from 
the  western  continent ;  but  its  geological  formation  and  its 
fauna  are  rather  European.  Perhaps  it  is  no  true  land,  but 
only  a  vast  congeries  of  islands  cemented  together  by  eternal 
ice  and  snow.  Drake  called  it  "The  Land  of  Desolation." 
Here  and  there  grow  a  few  small  bushes,  but  no  real  forests. 
Huge  snow-capped  clifts,  black  where  the  earth  crops  through, 
enormous  glaciers  and  deep-cut  fjords,  with  a  few  ptarmigan 
to  give  life,  are  its  scenes  of  beauty.  Glacier  after  glacier 
launches  icebergs  with  the  thunder  of  heavy  artillery.  The  in- 
terior is  a  "Sahara  of  snow  and  ice."  Here  and  there  a  patch 
of  brown  earth,  perhaps ;  the  elevation  gradually  rising  to 
mountainous  table-land,  but  all  ice  and  snow,  desolation  reign- 
ing in  unrivaled  and  unchallenged  security.  Animal  life,  like 
that  of  man,  keeps  close  to  the  coast,  and  at  that  mostly  to 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


59 


the  west  coast.  Such  a  thing  as  a  cHmate  the  land  can  be  said 
to  possess  only  by  courtesy.  For  long  months  darkness  is  the 
guest  of  cold.  But  then  the  aurora,  shining  and  quivering  and 
flashing — the  heathen  native  thought  this  was  caused  by  the 
spirits  of  his  dead  playing  a  game  of  ball  up  yonder  with  a 
walrus-skull — and  the  dovibly  brilliant  stars  take  pity  on  the 
unfortunates  whom  the  sun  has  forsaken.  In  the  brief  summer, 
indeed,  willow  bushes  and  stunted  birches  burst  out  into 
green  along  the  coast,  and  grass  and  berries  and  poppies  and 
moss  for  a  time  break  the  monotony  of  white ;  but  it  is  a  silent 
solitude,  save  for  the  sea-fowl.  Land  animals  do  not  flourish. 
The  icy  earth  becomes  a  tomb  for  seeds  cast  into  it  by  the 
stranger  who  experiments.  It  is  from  the  sea  that  the  Green- 
lander  gets  his  chief  supplies  of  food.  But  the  seals,  and  wal- 
rus, and  the  dolphins,  the  porpoises,  and  herrings,  and  per- 
chance a  giant  whale,  the  prize  of  his  harpoon,  afford  him  the 
heat-giving  sustenance  which  his  northern  latitude  requires. 

The  Greenlander — "Innuit,"  man,  emphatically  man,  he  calls 
himself;  Europeans  with  less  narrowed  standard  of  comparison 
have  dubbed  him  "Eskimo,"  eater  of  raw  flesh — in  person  is 
short,  inclined  to  be  stout,  somewhat  flat-nosed.  His  small 
black  eyes  sparkle  merrily,  for  he  is  fond  of  a  joke.  He  is  an 
excellent  mimic,  quickly  scrapes  acquaintance  with  a  stranger, 
finds  out  his  weak  points  and  lets  them  be  seen.  A  slight 
moustache  may  adorn  his  face,  but  whiskers  and  beard  will  be 
scanty.  The  skin,  if  it  appears  at  all  through  the  layer  of  dirt, 
normal  in  the  case  of  the  uncivilized  heathen,  is  brownish,  yet 
not  so  dark  that  a  rosy  cheek  will  not  show.  He  arranges  his 
dress  to  suit  the  cHmate,  his  clothing  being  of  furs,  with 
trowsers  tucked  into  skin-boots,  and  his  shirt  having  a  hood 
that  can  be  drawn  over  the  head.  As  a  heathen  his  half-under- 
ground house  is  in  a  state  of  utter  filth,  he  himself  having  no 
aversion  to  dirt  or  to  noisome  smells.  Inclined  to  be  indolent, 
overeating  is  one  of  his  great  weaknesses,  provided  his  hunt 
has  been  a  success.  Extremely  superstitious,  and  peopling 
earth  and  air  and  water  with  evil  spirits,  he  is  at  the  mercy  of 
shrewd  witch-doctors,  the  angekoks.  Of  morality  he  has  not 
an  overplus. 

Perhaps  two  thousand  such  natives  lived  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  New  Herrnhut,  as  the  spot  was  named  where  the 
missionaries  built ;  but  they  at  first  confined  their  intercourse 


6o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


with  the  newcomers  to  attempts  at  begging  or  steaUng.  For 
the  missionaries  the  barrier  of  language  was  long  in  the  way—  a 
most  difficult  agglutinative  type  of  speech.  Nor  could  Egede 
render  much  assistance,  for  his  knowledge  of  German  was  as 
limited  as  was  theirs  of  Scandinavian.  Moreover,  unfortunate 
misunderstandings  between  him  and  Christian  David  arose 
from  doctrinal  discussions,  so  that  the  Moravians  after  a  while 
became  completely  isolated.  Then  disasters  began  to  follow 
in  quick  succession.  Their  boat  drifted  out  to  sea.  Success 
in  fishing  and  hunting  was  meager.  If  better  housed  now  in 
a  wooden  dwelling,  the  materials  for  which  had  been  brought 
from  Denmark,  the  scanty  fare  which  they  could  secure  had  to 
be  won  by  laborious  spinning  of  flax  for  the  Danish  traders, 
and  before  long  that  means  of  liveHhood  also  failed.  Then  came 
the  dreadful  small-pox,  introduced  by  a  native  who  had  visited 
Denmark.  Two  or  three  thousand  Eskimos  of  the  west  coast 
were  swept  away  by  it,  and  though  the  kind  attentions  of  the 
missionaries  broke  down  the  wall  of  prejudice  in  a  measure, 
no  heart  was  touched  by  the  gospel.  Later,  scurvy  partially 
disabled  the  missionaries  themselves,  who  at  this  juncture  owed 
much  to  Egede's  kindness.  Yet  they  labored  on  as  best  they 
could,  endeavoring  to  teach  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  to  those  who  would  listen — often  only  to  be 
laughed  at  for  their  pains. 

Their  numbers  were  recruited,  in  1734,  by  the  arrival  of  Fred- 
erick Bohnisch  and  John  Beck.  But  the  failure  of  supplies 
from  Europe,  and  the  scarcity  of  wild  fowl,  with  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  people  to  come  to  their  assistance,  again  reduced 
teem  to  sore  extremities.  Shell-fish  and  raw  sca-weed  became 
their  diet  for  days,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  piety  of  a 
heathen,  Ippegau,  on  a  visit  from  his  home,  forty  leagues  away, 
the  mission  might  have  come  to  a  tragic  end. 

Nevertheless,  at  a  conference  held  in  March,  1735,  though 
their  lives  were  at  the  time  threatened  by  hostile  savages,  they 
determined  that  John  Beck  and  Matthew  Stach  should  remain 
in  Greenland  for  the  rest  of  their  days,  in  spite  of  the  fruitless- 
ness  of  the  mission,  and  that  Christian  Stach  should  advocate 
the  cause  of  the  mission  when  temporarily  absent  in  Europe. 
Christian  David  had  been  sent  only  to  help  to  establish  the 
work,  not  to  remain  permanently.  Next  Egede,  whose  de- 
voted wife  had  died,  returned  to  Denmark,  but  there  for  some 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


6r 


years  trained  men  for  the  Danish  mission  in  Greenland.  In 
that  year  also  the  Moravian  mission  family  was  augmented  by 
the  arrival  of  Stach's  mother,  and  his  two  sisters,  Rosina  and 
Anna,  who  subsequently  married  John  Beck  and  Frederick 
Bohnisch.*  Not  until  May  7,  1736,  did  any  Greenlander  even 
make  inquiry  concerning  divine  truth ;  and  the  first  convert, 
Mangek,  was  a  stranger  whom  the  persecutions  of  his  covmtry- 
men  rendered  unstable. 

On  June  2,  1738,  Kajarnak,  a  man  on  a  visit  from  the  south, 
was  struck  with  the  story  of  the  agony  in  Gethsemane  and  on 
the  Cross,  and  eagerly  drank  in  the  words  of  salvation  preached 
to  him  by  John  Beck  in  response  to  his  questionings,  called 
forth  by  the  missionary's  reading  from  a  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  at  which  he  was  engaged.  In  a  voice  that 
trembled  with  emotion  he  asked,  "How  is  that?  Tell  me  that 
again;  for  I,  too,  would  fain  be  saved."  His  baptism,  with  the 
name  Samuel,  and  that  of  his  wife  Anna,  his  son  Matthew  and 
his  daughter  Aima,  followed  on  Easter  Sunday,  1739.  But 
then  Satan  raged.  Kajarnak's  brother-in-law  was  murdered 
and  his  own  life  endangered.  He  had  to  leave  New  Herrnhut 
for  the  south.  Yet  he  remained  true  to  Christ  for  the  brief 
remainder  of  his  hfe,  and  testified  of  Him  to  his  countrymen. 
Carried  off  by  consumption  in  1741,  his  last  message  to  the 
missionaries  was  full  of  comfort,  "I  was  the  first  of  my  country- 
men who  found  the  Lord,  and  I  shall  be  the  first  of  them  to  go 
to  Him." 

The  harvest  had  commenced.  Soon  Arbalik,  baptized  Simon, 
took  Kajarnak's  place.  A  visit  paid  by  Bishop  Andrew  Gras- 
mann  to  New  Herrnhut  in  the  spring  of  1740,  and  a  visit  of 
Matthew  Stach  to  Europe,  whence  he  returned  in  1741,  both 
proved  influential  in  causing  the  missionaries  to  change  the 

*  Descendants  of  Anna  Stach  have  continued  in  mission  service  in  unbroken  line. 
After  the  death  of  Frederick  BShnisch  she  was  married  to  John  Zacharias,  and  with 
him  labored  in  Greenland  from  1765  to  1784.  Their  daughter,  Anna  Benigna,  in 
turn  married  John  Godfrey  Gorke,  and  served  in  the  same  country  from  1792  to 
1825.  Their  daughter,  Henrietta,  went  to  Labrador  in  1S19  as  the  wife  of  John 
Lundberg,  and  served  many  years,  dying  at  Herrnhut  in  1881.  Their  son,  John 
Eugene  Lundberg,  was  one  of  the  first  missionaries  on  the  Moskito  Coast,  where  he 
labored  for  thirty-three  years.  His  daughter,  soon  after  his  death  in  1881,  went  to 
the  Moskito  Coast  as  the  wife  of  Augustus  Hermann  Conrad  Berckenhagen,  dying 
there  in  i860,  whilst  her  brother,  Paul  Eugene  Lundberg,  entered  mission  service  in 
Labrador  in  1884,  where  he  is  still  active. 


62 


A  HISTORY  OF 


type  of  their  preaching,  and  make  it  less  legal,  more  Christo- 
centric,  and  with  more  pronomiced  insistence  upon  the  possi- 
bility of  joyful  assurance  of  personal  salvation.  In  spite  of  the 
active  hostility  of  the  medicine  men,  the  number  of  converts 
now  rapidly  increased.  The  chapel  was  found  to  be  too  small 
for  the  congregation  of  about  200,  that  was  wont  to  assemble 
in  1745.  John  Beck,  on  furlough  in  Europe,  at  a  Synod  held 
at  Zeist,  pleaded  for  better  accommodations.  The  missionary 
ship,  Irene,  was  commissioned  to  convey  to  Greenland  a  frame 
church  in  sections,  and  Christian  David  was  sent  to  assist  in 
its  erection.  What  feelings  this  apostolic  man  must  have  had, 
when  on  October  28  John  Beck  consecrated  this  building  in  the 
presence  of  three  hundred  interested  Greenlanders ! 

For  ordinary  Christians  the  West  Indies  and  Greenland 
would  have  afforded  sufficient  scope  for  pent-up  missionary 
zeal.  Not  so  with  the  inspired  men  and  women  of  Herrnhut. 
On  March  7,  1735,  George  Piesch,  George  Berwig  and  Chris- 
tian von  Lariscli  left  for  Surinam.  Spangenberg  had  arranged 
with  the  Dutch  Surinam  Company  the  terms  upon  which  the 
Brethren,  with  whom  he  had  been  fully  identified  for  about  tvvo 
years,  might  make  a  settlement  in  that  country.  Their  primary 
purpose  was  a  preliminary  tour  of  exploration  with  a  view  to  a 
later  settlement.  Whilst  thus  engaged  Larisch  died.  The 
others  fulfilled  their  commission ;  and  this  led  to  the  starting  of 
the  mission  which  was  placed  on  a  permanent  basis  in  1745. 

Coincident  with  the  preparation  for  the  mission  in  Green- 
land, the  attention  of  Zinzendorf  and  the  Brethren  had  been 
drawn  to  the  religious  destitution  of  the  Lapps.  But  their 
missionaries,  after  setting  out,  learnt  that  a  Danish  mission 
had  been  begun  amongst  these  people  in  Norway.  Conse- 
quentW  Andrew  Grasmann,  Daniel  Schneider  and  John  Nitsch- 
mann,  junior,  were  instructed  to  go  to  the  Lapps  in  Sweden. 
Spending  the  winter  of  1734  in  Stockholm,  they  proceeded  to 
Tornea  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year,  and  thence  made 
their  way  inland.  Contrary  to  expectation,  they  found  the 
people  under  at  least  nominal  supervision  of  the  State  Church, 
and  therefore  withdrew. 

The  call  to  the  next  undertaking  came  in  1736,  a  year  of  dis- 
tress for  Zinzendorf;  but  it  was  nevertheless  undertaken.  It 
came  from  two  Reformed  pastors  in  Amsterdam,  Van  Alphen 
and  De  Bruyn.    They  had  been  much  moved  by  the  distressing 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


63 


account  given  by  Ziegenbalg  and  Pliitschau,  the  founders  of 
the  mission  in  Tranquebar,  respecting  the  condition  of  the  Hot- 
tentots at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where  they  had  touched  on 
their  voyage  to  India.  Though  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany had  sent  an  expedition  in  1652  under  Van  Kiebeek  to 
seize  the  Cape  as  a  base  of  suppHes  for  their  fleet  en  route  to  the 
Orient,  and  though  refugee  Huguenots  had  flocked  thither 
after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  the  natives  had 
been  made  to  lead  a  sad  hfe.  Hottentots  and  Bushmen,  both 
undersized  non-negroid  races,  the  former  naturally  indolent, 
living  in  low  dome-shaped  kraals,  shiftless  and  untidy,  yet  re- 
moved from  the  very  lowest  of  savages,  being  herdsmen  rather 
than  mere  hunters,  with  a  kinship  to  the  Malays,  if  high  cheek- 
bones, oblique  eyes,  thin  beards  and  dull  yellow  complexion 
be  sure  signs,  or  to  the  old  Egyptians,  if  their  speech,  rich 
in  consonants  and  admitting  pronominal  suffixes,  afford  a  cor- 
rect index  of  affinity ;  the  latter  more  energetic,  but  having 
not  yet  reached  the  pastoral  stage,  living  by  the  chase — such 
as  they  were  they  had  been  treated  by  Dutch  and  Huguenots  as 
merely  superior  animals.  They  were  called  schepsels — things, 
not  persons,  creations  of  Satan,  perhaps.  To  hunt  them  down, 
like  so  many  jackals,  was  deemed  no  crime.  To  enslave  them 
was  akin  to  conferring  a  favor.  But  the  slaves  were  not  taught 
the  religion  of  their  masters. 

As  soon  as  the  call  reached  Herrnhut,  George  Schmidt,  who 
although  only  twenty-seven  years  of  age  was  of  vigorous  and 
forceful  faith  and  had  spent  six  years  in  an  Austrian  prison 
for  conscience  sake,  volunteered  promptly,  and  was  ready  to 
start  for  Holland  within  a  week,  to  acquire  Dutch  prior  to 
sailing.  Zinzendorf  joined  him  a  few  days  later,  and  prepared 
the  way  in  Holland.  Through  the  intervention  of  Isaak 
Lelong,  and  the  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam,  Van  den  Bempen, 
and  Admiral  Schryver  and  Rath  van  Rumswinkel,  the  "Council 
of  Seventeen,"  granted  Schmidt  permission  to  sail  to  the  Cape. 
He  left  on  March  17  and  reached  Cape  Town  on  July  9.  I737- 
At  first  he  settled  amongst  the  Hottentots  in  Zoetemelksvallei, 
on  the  Zondereind  River,  not  far  from  a  military  post  of  the 
Trading  Company.  But  in  April  of  the  next  year,  owing  to 
the  bad  infl.uence  of  this  post,  it  seemed  wise  to  remove  three 
hours'  journey  farther.  Now  a  secluded  valley  was  selected, 
known  as  Baviaanskloof.     Here  he  gathered  a  school  num- 


64 


A  HISTORY  OF 


bering  about  fifty.  Besides  the  white  Sergeant,  Kampen,  two 
natives,  Africo  and  Kybodo,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
Cape  Town,  and  one  Willem,  were  soon  won  for  Christ. 
Whilst  on  a  visit  to  Cape  Town,  in  June,  173S,  to  his  delight 
Schmidt  met  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  and  Dr.  Eller, 
missionaries  of  the  Brethren's  Church  on  their  way  to  Ceylon. 
They  brought  him  news  of  most  serious  opposition  which  had 
broken  out  in  Holland.  Domine  Kulenkamp's  Hirtenbricf,  i.  e., 
pastoral  letter,  which  had  aroused  such  deep  animosity  against 
the  Moravians  there,  was  soon  circulated  in  the  colony  also, 
and  Schmidt  began  to  feel  the  efTects.  Still  he  persevered,  and 
baptized  his  first  convert,  Willem,  on  March  31,  1742.  Within 
a  month  four  other  Hottentots  were  baptized.  The  Reformed 
pastors  in  Cape  Town  were  provoked  at  this,  denying  the  valid- 
ity of  Schmidt's  orders,  acting  as  he  did  only  by  written  com- 
mission, sent  for  two  of  the  Hottentots,  catechised  them,  and 
sent  them  back  to  Schmidt  with  a  good  testimonial.  In  August, 
1743,  Schmidt  himself  was  summoned  to  Holland  to  report 
and  await  decision  as  to  the  validity  of  his  proceedings.  He 
left  behind  a  congregation  of  forty-seven  Hottentots,  had  been 
the  means  of  leading  thirty-nine  whites  to  Christ,  and  bore  with 
him  complimentary  testimonials  from  Sergeant  Martinssen, 
the  commander  of  the  neighboring  post,  from  Captain  Rhenius, 
and  from  Governor  Sollengebel.  He  reached  Texel  on  June 
17,  1744.  But  when,  next  year,  Zinzendorf  asked  permission 
for  his  return,  although  the  request  was  seconded  by  various 
persons  of  influence,  it  was  refused. 

Whilst  Schmidt  was  laboring  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of 
whites  and  reach  heathen  hearts  at  the  southern  end  of  the 
continent,  another  undertaking  was  inaugurated  on  the  west 
coast  of  Africa.  In  Copenhagen  in  the  year  1735  Zinzendorf 
met  a  mulatto  from  the  Guinea  Coast,  Christian  Jacob  Protten, 
who  had  been  taken  to  Denmark  against  his  will,  and  had 
there  become  a  Christian  and  had  studied  theology.  This  man 
returned  to  Herrnhut  with  him,  and  next  year  volunteered  to 
go  to  his  own  people  at  Fort  George  de  la  Mina,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Dutch  traders,  known  also  as  Delmian  or  El- 
mina.  The  oflfer  was  accepted.  With  him  volimteered  Henry 
Huckofif,  a  native  of  Moravia.  Armed  with  a  letter  to  the 
Governor,  they  sailed  from  Holland.  But  whilst  they  were  en- 
deavoring to  establish  a  school  near  Delmina,  Huckofif  died  of 


T?IE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


65 


fever,  on  June  17,  1737.  Protten,  who  seems  to  have  been 
unsuited  to  the  work,  and  who  was  in  danger  of  being  appre- 
hended as  a  runaway  slave,  met  with  no  success,  and  was  re- 
called in  1741. 

Yet  another  African  land  was  to  be  the  depository  of  a  mis- 
sionary's heroism.  Abraham  Ehrenfried  Richter  was  in  early 
life  a  prosperous  merchant  of  Stralsund.  After  Zinzendorf's 
stay  in  that  city  in  1734  he  joined  the  Brethren,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  evangeHstic  labor  in  western  Germany  and  amongst 
the  Germans  of  London.  Whilst  passing  through  Amsterdam 
on  his  return  from  that  city,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Ad- 
miral Schryver,  who  described  to  him  the  religious  destitution 
of  the  Christian  slaves  in  Algeria.  With  him  to  realize  their 
need  was  equivalent  to  a  call  to  minister  to  them.  The  authori- 
ties of  the  church  approved  of  his  determination,  and  he  set 
out  via  Marseilles  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1739,  arriving 
at  Algiers  on  February  11,  1740.  Letters  of  recommendation 
from  Holland  to  the  Dutch  Consul  Paravicini  led  this  official 
to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Dey  to  his  becoming  the  religious 
teacher  of  the  Christian  slaves.  In  March  the  plague  broke 
out  amongst  them,  but  Richter  fearlessly  continued  his  minis- 
trations. In  consequence  he  himself  fell  a  victim  on  July  10, 
lamented  by  many,  Consul  Paravicini  testifying  his  esteem  in  a 
report  dispatched  soon  afterwards. 

In  1737  and  1738  Andrew  Grasmann,  Daniel  Schneider,  and 
Michael  Miksch  attempted  to  evangelize  in  Russia,  especially 
amongst  the  Samoyedes  and  other  heathen  tribes  on  the  shores 
of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  For  this  purpose  they  journeyed  by  way 
of  Reval  to  Archangel,  but  were  arrested  on  the  charge  of  being 
Swedish  spies.  After  an  imprisonment  of  five  weeks  in  solitary 
confinement,  they  were  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  under  escort  of 
three  soldiers.  On  the  way  two  of  these  guards  broke  through 
the  ice  whilst  crossing  a  frozen  lake,  and  were  rescued  by  their 
prisoners.  Their  innocence  having  been  established  by  an  ex- 
amination at  St.  Petersburg,  they  were  returned  to  Germany  by 
sea  via  Liibeck,  with  the  statement  that  their  services  were  not 
at  present  needed. 

According  to  Zinzendorf's  plans  Schmidt's  labor  at  the  Cape 
was  to  have  served  as  a  link  with  Ceylon.  Ceylon  might  be- 
come the  door  to  the  East  Indies,  and  a  chain  of  connections 
might  thence  be  established  with  missions  in  Mongolia  and  Per- 
6 


66 


A  HISTORY  OF 


sia.  Such  was  the  comprehensive  nature  of  his  designs.  In 
1740,  therefore,  the  missionaries  whom  Schmidt  met  in  Cape 
Town,  inaugurated  a  mission  in  Ce3don,  then  a  Dutch  posses- 
sion. At  first  the  Governor,  Von  Imhofif,  and  Wetzehus,  the 
senior  clergyman  of  the  colony,  lent  their  countenance,  friends 
were  gained,  and  at  Mogurugampelle  converts  began  to  be 
won.  But  the  prejudices  aroused  by  the  Hirtenbrief  completely 
changed  the  aspect  of  aflfairs,  and  although  Wetzelius  stood  by 
the  Brethren  in  a  few  months  the  work  had  to  be  reUnquished  on 
account  of  the  persistent  opposition  of  the  colonial  authorities 
and  the  other  representatives  of  the  Dutch  clergy,  at  the  very 
time  when  it  had  begun  to  prosper.  Thus  hampered  in  Ceylon, 
Nitschmann  and  Eller  desired  to  cross  over  to  the  Malabar 
Islands,  but  this  the  Governor  forbade,  stigmatizing  them  as 
heretics  whose  work  was  not  to  be  tolerated. 

This  period  was  also  distinguished  by  the  inception  of  a  mis- 
sion among  the  Indians  and  Negroes  of  the  American  Colonies 
in  1735  and  1738;  a  work  directly  linked  with  the  founding 
of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America. 

The  significance  of  this  world-wide  missionary  movement,  in 
connection  with  the  extensive  itinerations  in  European  lands 
appears,  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  the  entire  congregation 
at  Herrnhut  in  1732  numbered  only  about  six  hundred,  and  that 
many  of  its  members  were  very  poor,  that  the  means  of  trans- 
portation and  the  maintenance  of  communications  were  ex- 
cessively meager,  and  the  difficulties  in  the  way  prodigious.  It 
is  significant  also  that  the  majority  of  the  missionary  pioneers 
were  Moravians  by  birth.  It  was  the  "witness  spirit"  brought 
from  lands  of  persecution  and  martyrdom,  that  gave  impetus  to 
the  movement.  Indeed  in  August,  1733,  the  people  of  Herrnhut 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  former  members  of  the  evan- 
gelical church  who  might  stay  at  home,  and  the  descendants  of 
the  Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren,  who  were  expected  to  fur- 
nish men  willing  to  become  "pilgrims"  or  heralds  of  the  church 
of  God  throughout  the  world. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


67 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  TRANSFER  OF  THE  EPISCOPATE,  AND  THE  BANISHMENT  OF 
COUNT  ZINZENDORF. 

In  gradually  identifying  himself  with  the  Moravian  exiles  at 
Herrnhut,  it  was  far  from  Zinzendorf's  purpose  to  establish  an 
independent  religious  body.  Nor  did  he  in  the  event  call  into 
being  an  ecclesiastical  body  de  novo.  Yet  the  result  of  his 
evangelistic  labors  and  those  of  his  associates  was  more  than  a 
congeries  of  ecclesiolae  in  ecclesiis.  Zinzendorf  did  not  mean 
to  be  identified  with  a  dc  facto  ecclesiastical  organization  dis- 
tinct from  the  confessional  churches.  Nevertheless  to  his  in- 
strumentaHty  more  than  to  that  of  any  other  man  must  be 
ascribed  the  emergence  from  its  dormant  state  of  what  had  long 
ago  been  a  distinct  church,  and  its  further  differentiation  from 
other  churches ;  and  though  he  was  not  the  founder  of  a  mere 
sect,  if  the  obloquy  of  schism  is  to  be  considered  inseparable 
from  that  term,  he  was  almost  in  spite  of  himself  and  unde- 
signedly on  his  part  the  resuscitator  of  an  ancient  Protestant 
church.  His  own  plans  were  continually  thwarted  by  Provi- 
dence, until  the  prayer  of  Comenius  received  an  answer.  This 
is  one  of  the  wonderful  things  of  God,  which  gleams  forth  from 
the  story  of  Herrnhut. 

Zinzendorf's  personal  desire  and  inner  call  to  enter  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  noticeable  during  his  student-years,  appear  never 
to  have  left  him,  but  to  have  been  deepened  by  the  experiences 
of  1727  and  the  following  years.  After  the  arrival  of  Spangen- 
berg  at  Herrnhut  in  April,  1733,  and  Oettinger,  of  Tlibingen,  in 
June,  he  pursued  a  course  of  systematic  study  under  these  theo- 
logians. But  it  was  one  thing  to  fit  himself  for,  and  quite 
another  thing  for  a  nobleman  to  be  admitted  to,  the  ordinary 
ministry.  Even  apart  from  the  excessive  eccentricity  which 
would  be  supposed  to  attach  to  the  taking  of  such  a  step  by  a 


68 


A  HISTORY  OF 


man  of  rank,  he  had  more  than  one  Haman  at  the  court  in  Dres- 
den, who  would  interfere.  In  some  other  country  he  might  pos- 
sibly hope  for  less  prejudiced  treatment.  Hence  when  Abra- 
ham Ehrenfried  Richter,  still  a  merchant  of  Stralsund,  wrote  to 
Herrnhut  to  secure  a  private  tutor  for  his  motherless  children, 
by  Spangenberg's  advice  Zinzendorf  responded  in  person,  em- 
ploying one  of  his  titles,  Von  Freydek,  as  a  screen  for  his 
actual  personality.  The  day  after  his  arrival  in  Stralsund,  at 
the  end  of  March,  1734,  he  disclosed  his  name  and  the  object 
of  his  coming  to  Dr.  Langemack,  who  with  Dr.  Sibeth  had  been 
commissioned  to  act  as  examining  commissioner  for  the  uni- 
versity of  Greifswald  in  the  case  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
By  the  invitation  of  the  former  he  thereupon  preached  for  the 
first  time,  in  Stralsund,  on  April  11.  The  formal  examination 
in  all  points  of  Christian  doctrine  followed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  month.  On  the  26th  the  examiners  gave  him  a  complete 
certificate  of  orthodoxy  from  the  Lutheran  standpoint,  ex- 
pressly excepting  and  granting  as  non-essential  certain  details 
of  church  discipline  not  contained  in  the  articles  of  faith.  He 
now  notified  Superintendent  Loscher  of  his  purpose  to  enter 
upon  the  spiritual  office.  In  December  he  journeyed  to  Tubin- 
gen, and  on  the  i8th  presented  a  formal  appHcation  to  the  theo- 
logical faculty  of  the  university,  requesting  recognition  as  a 
Lutheran  minister.  This  faculty  in  April  of  the  preceding  year 
had  published  its  judgment  respecting  the  doctrinal  standpoint, 
discipline  and  ritual  of  the  congregation  at  Herrnhut,  and  whilst 
recognizing  its  substantial  harmony  with  the  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Church  in  doctrine,  had  approved  of  the  retention  by  the 
Moravians  of  the  heirloom  of  discipline  and  ritual  received  from 
their  fathers,  and  characteristic  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  for  up- 
wards of  three  hundred  years.  Zinzendorf's  request  was  now 
granted.  Chancellor  Pfaff  replying  in  the  name  of  the  faculty 
and  quoting  precedent  for  the  assumption  of  the  clerical  call- 
ing by  a  man  of  rank.  On  the  fourth  Sunday  in  Advent 
he  therefore  preached  in  the  cathedral  and  in  the  church  of  St. 
Thomas,  in  Tiibingen,  and  thus  publicly  entered  the  ministry. 
It  was  not  his  purpose,  however,  to  be  bound  to  the  service  of 
any  one  congregation,  but  rather  to  exercise  ministerial  func- 
tions after  the  fashion  of  the  abbes  of  the  French  Church. 

For  the  parish  of  Herrnhut,  alienated  as  it  was  from  Rothc, 
he  also  had  plans.    During  the  winter  of  1732  to  1733  it  had 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


69 


been  his  endeavor  to  secure  as  its  pastor  Magister  Steinhofer, 
of  Tiibingen,  a  man  whose  previous  visit  to  Herrnhut  had 
brought  him  into  warm  sympathy  with  its  Hfe.  The  call  proved 
not  unwelcome,  and  the  faculty  of  the  university  gave  its  ap- 
proval. But  the  Saxon  government  interposed  such  qualifica- 
tions and  restrictions  that  the  negotiations  came  to  nothing, 
and  Steinhofer  before  long  became  court  preacher  at  Ebers- 
dorf.  Failing  in  this,  and  the  need  of  a  fully  recognized  min- 
istry, becoming  apparent  in  connection  with  the  success  of  the 
missions  amongst  the  heathen,  Zinzendorf  tried  another  plan. 
Spangenberg  was  sent  by  him  to  Wiirtemberg  to  treat  with 
Duke  Charles  Augustus  and  his  cabinet  and  consistory  for  per- 
mission to  restore,  at  his  own  expense,  the  ruined  Protestant 
cloister  of  St.  George  in  the  Black  Forest.  This  would  have 
carried  with  it  Zinzendorf's  consecration  as  a  prelate  of  Wiir- 
temberg. Having  gained  this,  he  proposed  to  establish  in  the 
cloister  of  St.  George  a  theological  seminary  to  supply  the  needs 
of  the  widening  work  of  the  Brethren.  But  the  reply  to  the 
request  was  unfavorable.  Had  it  been  granted,  or  had  Steinhofer 
come  to  Herrnhut,  the  probability  is  that  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
would  not  have  been  organically  resuscitated,  since  Lutheran 
orders  would  have  been  imposed  upon  Herrnhut  and  its  affilia- 
tions. 

But  something  had  to  be  done.  The  return  of  Dober  from 
St.  Thomas  with  the  converted  negro  boy  pressed  home  the 
necessity  of  supplying  the  missionaries  with  such  ordination  as 
would  qualify  them  in  the  sight  of  other  Christians  and  in  the 
opinion  of  governors  and  courts  of  justice  to  administer  the 
sacraments  and  perform  other  ministerial  functions.  Quite 
naturally  the  Moravians  bethought  themselves  of  their  fathers' 
episcopate,  and  according  to  their  custom  they  sought  the 
guidance  of  the  Lord  by  the  use  of  the  lot.  An  affirmative 
answer  was  received.  Then  David  Nitschmann,  the  carpenter, 
one  of  the  elders  of  Herrnhut,  was  also  selected  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  one  of  their  number  who  should  receive  consecra- 
tion— a  man  well  qualified  for  the  office  by  the  gravity  and  reli- 
ability, of  his  character,  his  spiritual  gifts,  sound  judgment  and 
considerable  experience  in  the  work  of  an  evangeHst  at  home 
and  abroad. 

The  episcopate  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  at  this  time  repre- 
sented by  Daniel  Ernest  Jablonski,  the  grandson  of  Comenius 


70 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  at  this  time  court  preacher  in  Berlin,  and  Christian  Sitko- 
vius  at  Thorn,  Superintendent  of  the  united  Reformed  and 
Brethren's  congregations  in  Poland.  With  the  former  Zinzen- 
dorf  had  been  in  correspondence  since  1729,  and  the  aged  bishop 
had  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  Herrnhut.  Of  his  own  accord 
already  in  1734  he  had  proposed  to  consecrate  one  of  the 
Brethren  a  bishop.  This  of?er  Zinzendorf  now  requested  him  to 
carry  out.  He  readily  consented,  the  more  so  because  he  knew 
Nitschmann  favorably.  Sitkovius  signified  his  written  approval, 
and  accordingly  Jablonski  consecrated  David  Nitschmann  a 
bishop  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  Berlin,  on  ]\Iarch  13,  1735,  in 
the  presence  of  Janik  and  Wenceslaus  Zlatnik,  two  members  of 
the  Bohemian  Church  of  that  city,  the  transaction  being  pre- 
ceded by  a  thorough  examination  of  the  candidate.  The  fol- 
lowing certificate  of  consecration  sets  forth  Bishop  Jablonski's 
conception  of  the  purpose  of  the  consecration : 

"In  the  Name  of  the  Blessed  Triune  God,  to  Whom  be  honor 
and  glory  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen ! 

"Inasmuch  as  it  seemed  good  to  the  eternal  and  wonderful 
God,  to  permit  His  faithful  confessors,  the  Bohemian-Mo.  avian 
Brethren,  to  fall  into  such  evil  circumstances,  that  many  of  them 
were  forced  to  forsake  their  native  land  and  to  seek  other 
places,  where  they  could  serve  their  God  with  freedom  of  con- 
science, and  confess  His  truth ;  therefore  it  has  come  to  pass 
that  some  of  them  are  scattered  in  the  northern  portions  of 
Europe,  and  others  even  in  America,  both  on  the  continent  and 
the  islands  there ;  but  this  all-wise  God  put  it  into  the  heart  of 
the  noble-born  Count  of  the  Empire,  Sir  Louis  Nicholas,  Count 
of  Zinzendorf?  and  PottendorfT,  to  receive  as  a  father  such 
Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren  in  their  dispersion,  and  to  care 
for  their  bodily  and  spiritual  welfare,  especially  also  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  venerable  ancient  Christian  church  statutes 
and  discipline ;  in  accordance  with  all  this  with  the  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  congregation  he  also  piously  resolved  to 
have  the  Rev.  Mr.  David  Nitschmann,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
of  the  ^Moravian  witnesses  in  America,  who  had  ventured  all 
things  in  trust  in  God,  and  to  whom  the  Lord  had  given  the 
first  fruits  of  the  heathen,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  Mora- 
vian rites  ordained  a  Senior  and  Superintendent  of  this  and  all 
future  colonies,  in  all  their  congregations  and  for  all  their  min- 
isters. 


DAVID    NITSCHM  ANN. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


71 


"Therefore  I,  the  undersigned,  in  accordance  with  this  prop- 
erly presented  request,  as  Elder,  Senior  and  Episcopus  of  the 
Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren  in  Great  Poland,  with  the  knowl  - 
edge and  consent  of  my  colleague  in  Great  Poland,  Sir  Senior 
Christian  Sitkovius,  did  ordain  the  afore-mentioned  Mr.  David 
Nitschmann,  on  March  13,  1735,  in  the  name  of  God,  according 
to  our  Christian  custom,  with  imposition  of  hands  and  prayer, 
a  Senior  of  the  afore-mentioned  congregations,  and  endowed 
him  with  full  authority  to  perform  the  visitations  called  for  by 
his  office,  to  ordain  the  pastors  and  church  servants  of  those 
congregations,  and  to  take  upon  himself  all  those  functions 
which  belong  to  a  Senior  and  Antistes  of  the  Church.  May  the 
dear  Saviour,  to  Whose  service  he  has  devoted  himself,  abide 
with  him  most  sensibly,  endow  him  with  courage  and  strength, 
accompany  his  apostolic  office  with  rich  blessing  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  to  the  salvation  of  many  souls ;  in  order  that  he 
may  bear  much  fruit  in  God's  vineyard,  and  that  his  reward  may 
be  great  in  eternity. 

"I  myself  have  written  the  above,  signed  it,  sealed  it  with  the 
seal  of  our  Church.    So  given  at  Berlin,  June  14,  1737. 

Daniel  Ernst  Jablonski, 

Royal  Elder  Court  Chaplain,  Consistory  and  Church 
r„„ , ,  T  Councillor — as  Elder  Senior  and  Antistes  of  the 

|_SEAL.  J 

Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren  in  Great  Poland. 
Mann  propria." 

In  the  judgment  of  Zinzendorf  the  episcopate  which  had  thus 
been  transferred  was  intended  merely  for  the  foreign  missions, 
and  was  not  in  any  way  to  separate  Herrnhut  from  the  Luth- 
eran Church,  or  to  be  significant  of  independent  organization. 
Yet  just  these  things  necessarily  resulted.  The  first  ordination 
performed  by  Nitschmann  was  that  of  John  George  Waiblinger, 
not  a  missionary,  but  minister-elect  of  the  settlement  at  Pil- 
gerruh,  in  Schleswig,  July  29,  1735 ;  nor  did  he  afterwards  con- 
fine his  exercise  of  episcopate  functions  to  the  supervision  of 
missions  and  the  ordination  of  missionaries. 

Meantime  Zinzendorf's  own  entrance  upon  holy  orders  had 
alienated  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  most  of  his  own  relatives 
considered  it  a  breach  of  propriety.  The  virulence  of  his  ene- 
mies was  also  increasing.  Amongst  these  were  now  to  be 
reckoned  Anthon  and  the  younger  Francke  at  Halle,  Court 


72 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Preacher  Marperger  at  Dresden,  Chaplain  Winkler  at  Ebers- 
dorf,  Magister  Urlsberger  at  Augsburg,  Court  Preacher  Ziegen- 
hagen  in  London,  of  the  clergy;  Count  von  Briihl  at  Dresden, 
Baron  Huldenberg  of  Neukirch,  Count  Christian  Ernest  of 
Stollberg-Wernigerode,  and  his  own  aunt  Henrietta,  of  the 
nobility.  Frederick  Augustus,  "The  Strong,"  had  died,  Feb- 
ruary I,  1733,  and  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Frederick 
Augustus  the  Third,  who  was  open  to  the  influence  of  the  foes 
of  Zinzendorf,  and  was  in  general  easily  swayed  by  favorites. 
In  1735  Baron  Huldenberg  complained  that  many  of  the  people 
of  his  estates  had  been  so  attracted  by  the  rehgious  institu- 
tions of  Herrnhut  as  to  become  vassals  of  Zinzendorf  by  re- 
moval thither.  This  concrete  accusation  induced  the  Saxon 
government  to  issue  a  decree  of  banishment  against  Zinzendorf 
on  March  20,  1736,  without  according  him  any  opportunity  of 
defence.  He  and  his  wife  were  at  the  time  absent  in  Holland 
with  a  number  of  fellow-workers,  in  the  interests  of  the  mis- 
sions in  Dutch  colonies,  and  planning  a  settlement  on  the 
estates  of  the  Baroness  of  Ysselstein.  On  his  way  back  to 
Saxony  he  was  met  at  Cassel  by  David  Nitschmann  with  the 
harsh  edict.  He  took  it  calmly,  although  the  outlook  was  dark, 
for  the  previous  harvests  had  been  very  poor  and  money  was 
scanty.  "It  mattered  not  at  all,"  he  said ;  "in  any  case  he  would 
not  have  been  able  to  live  at  Herrnhut  for  the  next  ten  years, 
since  he  had  intended  to  move  about  from  place  to  place  en- 
gaged in  work  for  the  Lord."  Accordingly  he  went  on  to 
Ebersdorf,  whilst  the  Countess  proceeded  to  Herrnhut. 

Now  was  the  golden  opportunity  for  crushing  out  the  Mora- 
vian settlement.  Its  foes  secured  the  appointment  of  a  new 
commission  to  examine  into  its  affairs — men  by  no  means 
prejudiced  in  its  favor,  two  nobles  and  two  divines,  Captain  von 
Loben,  Chamberlain  von  Holzendorf,  Superintendent  Dr.  Val- 
entine Loscher,  and  Dr.  Heidenreich,  a  member  of  the  Con- 
sistory at  Dresden.  From  May  9  to  May  18  this  commission 
thoroughly  investigated  all  the  peculiarities  of  Herrnhut. 
Its  report  was  as  favorable  as  that  of  the  first  commission ;  and 
the  Saxon  government  declared  that  as  long  as  the  Brethren 
remained  faithful  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  they  might  retain 
their  own  constitution  and  discipline.  Yet  the  Count  was  not 
recalled,  nor  was  he  given  a  trial  and  with  it  an  opportunity 
to  clear  himself  of  all  charges.    In  this  respect  the  whole  pro- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


73 


ceeding  was  most  arbitrary  and  unjust.  Yet  the  act  of  perse- 
cution had  an  effect  the  very  opposite  of  what  his  enemies  had 
hoped.  Zinzendorf's  banishment  served  to  spread  the  Mora- 
vian Church  throughout  the  world. 

He  was  literally  without  definite  plans,  determining  to  be  led 
by  God.  Having  spent  a  month  at  Ebersdorf,  he  proceeded 
to  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  was  well  received.  To  the 
east  lay  a  region  known  as  the  Wetterau  (Wetteravia),  about 
fifteen  quadrant  miles  in  extent  and  with  forty  thousand  inhab- 
itants, between  the  Taunus  Mountains  and  the  Vogelgebirge 
and  watered  by  the  river  Wetter.  The  lords  of  this  princi- 
pality, Counts  Ysenburg,  were  deeply  in  debt,  and  for  this  rea- 
son welcomed  all  manner  of  settlers  and  allowed  all  manner 
of  religious  views  to  find  expression  amongst  their  subjects. 
They  were  now  anxious  to  secure  a  people  who  had  by  this 
time  acquired  a  reputation  for  thrift,  that  their  estates  might 
be  improved.  Count  Ysenburg- Wachtersbach  therefore  offered 
Zinzendorf  the  use  of  the  Ronneburg,  a  half-ruined  castle  dat- 
ing back  to  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  a  wild  and  forbidding 
place.  Fifty-six  families  of  Jews  and  gypsies  lived  around  and 
in  the  out-buildings.  Christian  David,  indefatigable  itinerant 
and  accustomed  as  he  was  to  the  rude  accommodations  of 
Greenland,  thought  it  unfit  to  live  in.  Yet  Zinzendorf  accepted 
the  offer,  in  view  of  the  field  of  labor  which  it  presented.  On 
June  17,  1736,  he  commenced  his  evangelistic  activity  here, 
preaching  on  the  gospel  for  the  day,  the  parable  of  the  Lost 
Sheep.  Next  he  began  schools  for  the  poor  of  the  neighbor- 
hood;  and  to  put  a  stop  to  their  habit  of  begging,  distributed 
amongst  them  bread  and  money  for  clothes.  But  his  motives 
even  here  were  misunderstood,  and  eventually  efforts  were 
put  forth  to  stop  his  preaching,  so  that  he  had  to  explain  him- 
self to  Count  Ysenburg. 

Here  at  the  Ronneburg  an  institution  was  inaugurated  which 
exercised  a  most  important  influence  upon  the  development  of 
the  Brethren's  Church  for  the  remainder  of  Zinzendorf's  life. 
This  was  the  so-called  Pilgergcmeinc  or  Pilgerhaus — "The 
Congregation  of  Pilgrims."  This  body  stood  at  the  head  of 
affairs  during  the  }'ears  of  his  banishment.  In  his  view  it  was 
a  union  of  men  and  women  whose  mission  it  was  to  proclaim 
the  Saviour  in  the  whole  world,  and  who  therefore  itinerated 
from  place  to  place  in  accordance  with  the  needs  of  the  cause. 


74 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Its  arrangements  were  peculiar.  Its  members  were  appointed 
by  Zinzendorf  from  time  to  time,  probably  always  with  the 
approval  of  the  lot;  but  there  were  frequent  changes.  One  or 
more  might  be  sent  on  distant  missions  in  Europe  or  among 
the  heathen.  The  organization  itself  frequently  changed  its 
headquarters  as  the  needs  of  the  church  demanded.  Sometimes 
it  was  in  Wetteravia,  then  in  Berlin,  again  in  Holland,  then  in 
England,  etc.  There  was  a  common  housekeeping.  No  one 
received  a  salary.  Whoever  had  money  of  his  own  used  it  for 
his  own  support.  Otherwise  the  money  needed  came  from  the 
income  of  Zinzendorf's  estates,  or  through  gifts  and  loans  from 
friends  in  Holland  and  elsewhere.  Lady  Zinzendorf  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  financial  department,  assisted  by  Frederick  de 
Watteville  and  Jonas  Paulus  Weiss,  a  former  merchant  of 
Nuremberg,  who  in  casting  in  his  lot  with  the  Brethren  had 
contributed  a  large  portion  of  his  means.  Daily  religious  ser- 
vices were  participated  in  by  the  members  of  this  body,  for  it 
was  regarded  as  constituting  a  little  congregation,  and  the 
peculiarities  of  Moravian  ritual  were  observed.  Besides  Zin- 
zendorf and  his  wife  the  most  prominent  members  in  the  early 
days  were  Christian  David,  John  de  Watteville,  Leonard  Dober, 
John  Nitschmann,  Wenceslaus  Neisser  and  Samuel  Lieber- 
kiihn.  In  1747  the  so-called  Diarium  dcr  Hiittcn,  afterwards 
known  as  the  Diarium  dcs  Jiingerhauscs,  was  begun,  the  Pilger- 
gemcine  being  called  the  Jiingerhatis  after  Zinzendorf's  return 
from  banishment.  This  diary  was  a  complete  account  of  what 
Zinzendorf  and  his  coadjutors  did  from  day  to  day,  and  con- 
tained also  verbatim  reports  of  all  the  discourses  he  delivered 
and  copies  of  all  the  reports  received  from  every  mission  in 
Christian  and  heathen  lands.  No  part  of  it  was  printed,  but 
the  whole  was  written  and  multiplied  in  a  number  of  manu- 
script copies  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  wherever  the  Breth- 
ren were  established.  In  order  to  render  this  work  of  writing 
possible,  the  so-called  Schreiber-Collegimn  was  instituted,  a  body 
of  copyists  who  devoted  nearly  all  their  time  to  transcribing 
the  diary  and  the  many  letters  which  were  received. 

Zinzendorf's  first  stay  at  the  Ronneburg  was  only  brief.  On 
July  26  he  set  out  by  way  of  Jena,  Magdeburg,  Berlin  and 
Konigsberg  for  Livonia,  where  Christian  David  and  Timothy 
Fiedler  had  been  followed  by  other  Moravian  evangelists. 
Since  1721  this  country  had  belonged  to  Russia.     The  privi- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


75 


leged  classes  were  mainly  Germans,  Lutherans  amongst  whom 
the  Spenerian  revival  had  been  influential  for  good.  Amongst 
the  masses  of  the  people — Letts  in  the  south  and  Finnish 
Esthonians  in  the  north — relics  of  actual  heathenism  survived, 
faith  in  witchcraft  and  in  magic  blended  with  a  surface  accept- 
ance of  the  Roman  Catholic  or  Greek  type  of  Christianity,  and 
there  were  no  schools.  Herr  von  Bohn  of  Nerva  and  other 
persons  of  rank  had  soHcited  a  visit  from  the  Count,  desiring 
his  aid  in  their  attempts  to  relieve  the  religious  poverty  of  the 
land.  He  arrived  in  Riga  on  September  8.  Whilst  in  Livonia 
he  was  entertained  chiefly  by  Lady  von  Hallart,  m.  n.  von 
Billow,  the  widow  of  General  Louis  Nicholas  von  Hallert,  a 
Polish-Saxon  who  had  entered  Russian  service  in  1721.  This 
lady  desired  him  to  furnish  her  with  a  chaplain,  and  with  tutors 
for  a  teachers'  institute  at  Wolmar,  her  home.  Five  brethren 
were  therefore  sent  hither.  In  Reval  Zinzendorf  founded  a 
society  in  fellowship  with  the  Moravians,  and  adopting  their 
methods  for  the  cure  and  care  of  souls.  Its  ofificers  were  Luth- 
eran pastors,  Mickwitz,  Vierorth  and  Gutsleff.  The  society  in 
1741  developed  into  a  congregation  of  the  Brethren's  Church, 
whose  members  indeed  continued  to  partake  of  the  communion 
in  the  cathedral  once  in  each  quarter  year.  Though  this  con- 
gregation failed  of  permanence,  largely  because  of  persecution, 
the  extensive  Diaspora  which  was  also  the  fruit  of  Zinzendorf's 
visit  continues  to  the  present  day.  Another  result  was  the 
formation  of  a  Bible  Society,  the  Count  opening  a  subscription 
list  for  the  printing  of  the  Bible  in  the  Livonian  dialect  for  the 
benefit  of  the  peasantry.  The  volume  was  issued  at  Konigs- 
berg  in  1739,  for  one  ruble  and  a  half,  bound. 

From  Memel  on  his  way  home,  he  wrote  to  Frederick  Wil- 
liam the  First  of  Prussia,  asking  permission  to  make  some 
efforts  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  refugees  from  Salzburg 
who  had  found  an  asylum  in  his  dominions  and  especially  along 
the  Baltic.  On  his  arrival  in  Berlin  Jablonski  handed  him  an 
autograph  letter  from  the  king,  inviting  him  to  his  hunting 
lodge  at  Wusterhausen,  where  the  court  was  then  assembled. 
He  had  heard  so  many  things  against  Zinzendorf  that  he  was 
desirous  of  judging  him  from  personal  acquaintance.  His  ob- 
servations during  this  three  days'  visit  brought  the  shrewd 
monarch  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Count's  only  fault  was  that 
he  wished  to  be  pious  although  a  nobleman.     He  therefore 


76 


A  HISTORY  OF 


espoused  his  part  and  further  advised  him  to  have  himself  con- 
secrated a  bishop  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  This  suggestion 
was  taken  into  serious  consideration  by  Zinzendorf,  on  consul- 
tation with  Jablonski.  But  he  requested  as  a  condition  that 
the  Lutheran  deans  at  Berlin  might  make  a  searching  prelimi- 
nar}^  investigation  into  his  orthodoxy.  Drs.  Reinbeck,  Roloff, 
Jablonski  and  Kampstadt  were  accordingly  ordered  to  under- 
take an  examination  of  this  nature.  The  Count  placed  the 
requisite  documents  in  their  hands  and  having  intimated  to 
them  also  where  they  might  find  the  accusations  that  had  been 
published  against  him,  desired  them  to  prosecute  their  investi- 
gation at  their  convenience. 

On  his  return  to  Wetteravia  the  first  Synod  of  the  resusci- 
tated Unity  was  held  in  the  castle  of  Marienborn,  another  estate 
which  was  leased  from  the  Counts  Ysenburg.  One  of  the  chief 
subjects  of  discussion  in  this  gathering,  from  December  6  to 
December  9,  1736,  was  the  importance  of  the  episcopate  as  giv- 
ing the  Brethren's  Church  a  distinct  and  independent  position. 
At  its  close  Zinzendorf  proceeded  to  Holland,  where  many 
friends  had  been  won  in  Amsterdam,  and  on  January  9  visited 
Heerendyk  in  the  Barony  of  Ysselstein,  to  inspect  the  com- 
mencement of  the  buildings  of  the  future  settlement  which  had 
been  designed  as  a  fitting-out  place  for  missionaries  and  as  a 
center  of  influence  in  Holland.  Thence  he  crossed  to  England, 
his  four-fold  business  being  to  consult  with  the  trustees  of  the 
Colony  of  Georgia  with  regard  to  the  Moravian  settlement 
begun  recently  in  Savannah,  to  do  evangelistic  work  amongst 
the  Germans  of  London,  to  confer  with  Archbishop  Potter  of 
Canterbury  respecting  the  Moravian  episcopate,  and  to  seek 
a  revival  of  the  "Order  of  the  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed."  His 
Grace  was  most  friendly,  repeatedly  acknowledging  the  validity 
of  Moravian  orders,  furnishing  an  open  letter  of  recommenda- 
tion for  the  Moravian  colonists  in  Georgia,  and  urging  Zinzen- 
dorf to  accept  consecration  at  the  hands  of  Jablonski. 

Encouraged  by  his  conversation,  the  Count  at  length  deter- 
mined to  take  the  decisive  step.  He  therefore  went  to  Berhn 
in  April,  where  the  investigating  divines  had  arrived  at  a  satis- 
factory conclusion.  Then  on  May  20,  1737,  he  was  conse- 
crated by  Jablonski  and  Nitschmann,  in  the  presence  of  several 
members  of  the  old  Bohemian  congregation,  Sitkovius  also 
consenting  to  the  transaction.    This  was  a  most  important  step 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


77 


in  the  direction  of  independence,  which  was  almost  forced  upon 
Zinzendorf,  that  the  Moravians  might  not  be  driven  from  Herrn- 
hut,  but  have  an  acknowledged  standing  as  members  of  a 
recognized  church.  The  King  of  Prussia,  Bishop  Sitkovius  and 
Archbishop  Potter  sent  him  letters  of  congratulation. 


78 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA. 

On  April  4,  1733,  an  edict  of  banishment  was  proclaimed 
against  the  Schwenkfelder  refugees  Hving  in  the  circuit  of  Gor- 
litz.  Four  men  representing  thirty  families,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  souls,  interceded  with  Count  Zinzendorf,  whose  benevo- 
lence they  had  experienced  these  several  years,  to  secure  for 
them  a  home  in  Georgia,  known  to  have  been  recently  carved 
b)'  royal  letters  patent  out  of  the  Carolina  grant  between  the 
Savannah  and  Altamaha,  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  General 
James  Oglethorpe,  that  it  might  serve  as  an  asylum  for  insol- 
vent debtors  and  for  persons  fleeing  from  religious  persecu- 
tion. Zinzendorf  corresponded  with  Herr  von  Pfeil,  the  am- 
bassador of  Wiirtemberg,  at  Regensburg,  who  acted  as  Ger- 
man agent  for  the  Trustees  of  the  new  colony.  A  favorable 
reply  was  received.  A  grant  of  land  was  promised  to  the 
Schwenkfelder,  and  a  free  passage  thither.  The  English  author- 
ities were  glad  to  receive  accessions  of  Protestants  as  a  bul- 
wark against  threatened  encroachments  of  the  Spaniards  of 
Florida  and  the  French  of  Louisiana  upon  the  colonies  of  the 
southern  Atlantic  seaboard.  So  the  Schwenkfelder  left  Ber- 
thelsdorf  on  May  26,  1734,  led  by  George  Wiegner,  and  accom- 
panied at  their  own  request  by  a  Moravian  evangelist,  George 
Bohnisch.  Whilst  on  their  way,  however,  in  Holland  they 
changed  their  plans,  and  selected  the  older  colony  of  Pennsyl- 
vania as  their  destination,  having  been  offered  a  free  passage 
thither. 

The  Schwenkfelder  thus  faiUng  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  in  Georgia,  the  plan  was  now  conceived  of  secur- 
ing land  for  the  Brethren  there,  that  they  might  have  a  place 
of  refuge  in  case  of  similar  banishment,  and  might  commence 
missions  amongst  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees.  Spangenberg 
was  sent  to  London  to  prepare  the  way,  and  had  numerous 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


79 


interviews  with  General  Oglethorpe  and  with  Vernon,  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Trustees.  A  grant  of  five  hundred  acres  on  the 
Ogeechee  was  secured  for  the  projected  colony,  and  the  nego- 
tiator himself  received  a  present  of  fifty  acres,  a  part  of  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Savannah.  Throughout  the  negotia- 
tions the  fixed  antagonism  of  court-preacher  Ziegenhagen  had 
to  be  steadily  encountered — one  of  the  various  instances  of  the 
obstructive  tactics  of  the  Hallensian  party  against  anything 
and  everything  identified  with  Herrnhut.  Under  the  guidance 
of  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  John  Toltschig,  Anthony 
Seif¥erth,  Godfrey  Haberecht,  Gotthard  Demuth,  Peter  Rose, 
Michael  Haberland,  Frederick  Seidel,  and  George  Waschke 
joined  Spangenberg  in  London,  and  with  him  set  sail  for  Geor- 
gia on  February  6,  1734. 

They  reached  Savannah  on  April  17.  On  the  land  granted 
to  Spangenberg  a  cabin  was  built.  Fields  were  cleared  and 
planted,  and  the  prospects  for  the  first  crop  were  very  good. 
But  with  the  warm  weather  sickness  broke  out,  and  the  work 
was  especially  hindered  by  the  fact  that  the  one  of  their  num- 
ber who  best  understood  farming  was  ill.  Spangenberg  one 
day  knelt  by  his  bedside,  and  having  offered  a  fervent  prayer 
turned  to  the  man  and  said,  "My  brother,  get  up  from  this  bed, 
and  consider  yotirself  well."  The  man  actually  was  able  to  rise 
and  go  to  his  work  again. 

Before  long  a  school  for  Indian  children  was  established  on 
the  island  of  Irene,  about  five  miles  above  the  town. 

The  colony  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  twenty  additional 
Moravians  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop  Nitschmann,  on 
February  7,  1736.  In  the  same  vessel  with  them  came  Gover- 
nor Oglethorpe,  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  Benjamin  Ingham 
and  Charles  Delamotte.  John  Wesley  had  received  an  appoint- 
ment as  minister  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  Savannah.  He 
and  his  companions  became  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
Moravians  during  the  voyage,  and  he  in  particular  was  deeply 
impressed  by  their  calm  fearlessness  during  a  severe  storm  on 
January  25.  It  taught  him  that  they  had  a  peace  in  believing, 
to  which  he  was  a  stranger.  During  his  stay  in  Savannah, 
then  a  town  of  about  two  thousand  souls,  he  was  on  terms  of 
close  intimacy  with  the  Brethren.  With  Spangenberg  he  had 
several  conversations  about  the  possibility  of  a  personal  assur- 
ance of  salvation,  doctrine  as  yet  novel  to  him,  and  about 


8o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Herrnhut.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  namely,  on  February  28, 
Bishop  Nitschmann  ordained  Anthony  Seifferth  as  pastor  of 
the  Moravian  congregation,  now  fully  organized.  In  his  jour- 
nal he  describes  its  solemn  simplicity  as  carrying  him  back  in 
thought  to  the  days  of  the  apostles.  He  was  also  very  much 
interested  in  the  missions  of  the  Brethren  amongst  the  Indians 
of  whom  Tomotschatschi  was  chief,  and  thought  of  himself 
learning  their  language,  in  order  to  cooperate  in  the  noble 
effort. 

On  March  15  Spangenberg  left  for  Pennsylvania,  in  order  to 
take  the  place  of  Bohnisch.  Governor  Oglethorpe  gave  him  a 
warm  letter  of  recommendation  to  Thomas  Penn.  After  a 
stormy  voyage  from  Charlestown  to  New  York  he  arrived  at 
Wiegner's  farm  in  the  Schippack  on  April  4.  In  September 
he  visited  St.  Thomas  in  place  of  Bishop  Nitschmann,  organ- 
ized the  first  congregation  of  converts,  and  then  returned  to 
Pennsylvania,  to  be  active  in  evangelistic  labor  there  until 
October,  1739. 

In  connection  with  the  colony  in  Georgia  a  mission  amongst 
the  slaves  in  South  Carolina  was  also  projected,  and  met  with 
the  approval  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Peter  Bohler, 
a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  an  ex-student  of  Jena,  received  the 
appointment  to  begin  this  enterprise.  His  ordination,  on  De- 
cember 15,  1737,  was  Zinzendorf's  first  exercise  of  episcopal 
functions.  On  his  way  to  America  in  the  early  part  of  1738  he 
spent  some  time  in  England,  a  period  critical  in  the  spiritual 
experience  of  the  Wesleys,  who  were  aided  by  him  to  the  clear 
apprehension  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  and  to  personal  assur- 
ance of  salvation — a  visit  also  of  prime  importance  in  con- 
nection with  the  commencement  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in 
England.  Arriving  at  Savannah  on  October  15,  1738,  Bohler 
shortly  afterwards  began  a  mission  at  Purysburg,  in  South 
Carolina,  a  German  settlement  founded  in  1733.  In  this  effort 
he  was  assisted  by  his  friend  George  Schulius  and  by  young 
David  Zeisberger.  Every  Sunday  they  preached  to  the  Ger- 
man inliabitants  of  the  town,  and  in  the  week  visited  the 
negroes  in  the  vicinity  and  instructed  them  in  the  gospel.  But 
when  the  warm  weather  came  Bohler  fell  ill,  and  was  brought 
to  the  point  of  death.  He  had  not  fully  recovered  when  Schu- 
lius took  sick,  and  after  eighteen  days  died,  July  24,  1739. 
Amidst  many  privations,  faithfully  nursed  by  young  Zeisber- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


8i 


ger,  Bohler  continued  at  his  post,  until  the  difficuhies  in  which 
the  Spanish  War  involved  his  brethren  at  Savannah  con- 
strained him  to  remove  to  that  place.  Even  prior  to  this  the 
Moravian  colony  in  Georgia  was  in  a  languishing  condition. 
It  had  dwindled  from  thirty  persons  to  twelve  in  consequences  / 
of  disagreements  as  well  as  the  political  disturbances.  Some 
of  the  settlers  had  died,  others  had  returned  to  Europe,  and 
others  had  gone  to  Pennsylvania  independently.  When  the 
Spaniards  of  Florida  prepared  to  invade  Georgia,  and  the 
Moravians  were  required  to  take  up  arms  in  its  defense,  a  con- 
flict of  duties  had  arisen,  for  Hke  the  Friends  they  were  then 
non-combatants.  Finally,  when  only  five  men  and  one  woman 
and  one  boy  remained,  they  determined  to  go  to  Pennsylvania. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1740,  George  Whitefield  arrived  in  Geor- 
gia for  the  second  time.  At  Savannah  great  crowds  flocked 
to  hear  him,  and  extraordinary  scenes  of  excitement  followed. 
It  was  the  commencement  of  the  "Great  Awakening."  When 
about  to  leave  for  Pennsylvania  he  offered  Bohler  and  his 
friends  a  passage  on  board  his  sloop.  This  offer  they  gladly 
accepted,  and  saiHng  from  Savannah  on  April  13  arrived  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  25th.  In  Georgia  and  Carolina  they  had 
made  several  warm  friends,  some  of  whom  followed  them  later 
to  Pennsylvania  and  became  identified  with  the  work  of  the 
church — John  Brownfield,  James  Burnside,  Henry  F.  Beck  and 
Abraham  Biininger  amongst  the  rest.  They  had  expected  to 
find  both  Spangenberg  and  Bishop  Nitschmann  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  were  greatly  disappointed  to  learn  that  the  former 
had  left  and  that  the  latter  had  not  yet  arrived. 

When  on  the  point  of  dispersing  Bohler  kept  them  together 
and  found  employment  for  them,  deeming  it  their  duty  to 
await  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Nitschmann,  who  had  been  com- 
missioned by  a  synod  at  Marienborn  in  November  of  the  pre- 
vious year  to  lead  a  colony  to  Pennsylvania,  in  consequence 
of  Spangenberg's  representations. 

George  Whitefield,  with  the  aid  of  William  Seward,  of  Lon- 
don, had  purchased  five  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  Forks 
of  the  Delaware,  the  present  Northampton  County,  in  order 
to  erect  a  school  for  negroes  and  to  found  a  village  for  Eng- 
lishmen in  danger  from  the  harsh  laws  against  insolvent 
debtors.  Since  a  number  of  the  Moravians  were  carpenters, 
he  offered  to  engage  them  to  do  all  the  carpenter  work  and 
7 


82 


A  HISTORY  OF 


desired  Bohler  to  superintend  the  entire  erection  of  the  pro- 
jected building.  This  offer  was  acepted.  After  a  toilsome 
journey  of  three  days  on  foot  into  the  Indian  country  south 
of  the  Blue  Mountains  the  company  of  seven  men,  two  women 
and  two  boys  reached  Nazareth,  as  Whitefield  had  named  his 
tract,  on  May  30,  and  held  their  first  religious  service  there 
under  a  noble  oak.  Two  days  later  the  commissioners  sent  by 
Whitefield  marked  off  the  spot  where  the  house  was  to  be 
built,  on  a  gentle  hill  commanding  a  noble  view  of  rolling  for- 
ests to  the  distant  valley  of  the  Delaware  eastward.  Having 
put  up  a  log-house  for  themselves,  the  Moravians  began  to 
'  build  Whitefield's  school.  But  in  November  they  were  placed 
■'  in  a  position  of  jeopardy.  When  Bohler  went  to  Philadelphia 
"  to  report  to  his  employer  in  November,  the  latter  led  the  con- 
•  versation  into  a  discussion  of  controverted  points  of  doctrine, 
predestination  amongst  the  rest.  Unable  to  make  Bohler  yield 
the  Moravians'  position  of  free  grace,  and  stirred  up  as  he 
already  was  by  the  prejudices  of  the  Irish  Presbyterians  who 
were  the  Moravians'  nearest  neighbors,  he  gave  way  to  an 
unworthy  fit  of  temper,  and  ordered  Bohler  and  his  people  to 
leave  his  land  forthwith.  But  this  was  out  of  the  question,  as 
winter  was  at  hand.  The  friendly  interposition  of  Justice  Na- 
thaniel Irish,  of  Saucon,  the  agent  of  William  Allen  from  whom 
Whitefield  had  made  his  purchase,  secured  a  temporary  stay  of 
the  sentence.  Providentially,  too,  Andrew  Eschenbach,  who 
had  been  sent  by  Zinzendorf  to  labor  amongst  the  Germans  of 
Pennsylvania  and  had  arrived  in  October,  had  brought  word 
that  he  would  soon  be  followed  by  Bishop  Nitschmann  and  a 
company  of  Brethren. 

This  party  now  came  in  the  nick  of  time,  the  latter  part  of 
December,  1740.  Besides  the  bishop  it  consisted  of  his  uncle, 
old  "Father  Nitschmann,"  of  Zauchtenthal,  and  his  daughter, 
Anna,  the  former  leader  of  the  single  women  of  Herrnhut,  Mrs. 
Molther,  whose  husband  was  at  present  active  in  London,  and 
Christian  Frolich,  appointed  a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  Hav- 
ing entered  into  negotiations  with  various  other  persons,  the 
bishop  finally  purchased  five  hundred  acres  at  the  junction  of 
the  Lehigh  and  the  Monocacy  from  William  Allen,  through 
Justice  Irish.  Before  this  purchase  had  been  actually  consum- 
mated the  Moravians  on  Whitefield's  tract,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  the  land  on  the  Lehigh  would  be  bought,  began  to  fell  tim- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


83 


ber  where  Bethlehem  now  stands.  In  the  early  spring  of  1741 
a  log-house  was  completed,  and  in  it  lived  the  founders  of  Beth- 
lehem. Anna  Nitschmann  and  Mrs.  Molther  went  to  Oley  to 
assist  Eschenbach.  Bishop  Nitschmann  was  at  the  head  of  the 
colony,  Bohler  having  been  recalled  to  Europe.  On  his  way 
thither,  whilst  passing  through  New  York,  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  Noble  and  Horsefield  families,  an  acquaint- 
ance which  led  to  the  founding  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  that 
city. 


84 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH  IN  ENGLAND. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1728,  in  order  to  form  connection 
with  the  Society  for  the  Promoting  of  Christian  Knowledge, 
Zinzendorf  sent  Wenceslaus  Neisser,  John  Toltschig  and  David 
Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  to  England.  He  counted  on  the  kind 
offices  of  Countess  Lippe-Schaumberg,  a  lady  of  the  court  with 
whom  he  had  been  in  correspondence,  to  obtain  an  introduction 
for  them  to  officials  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  Leaving 
Herrnhut  on  June  7,  and  traveling  by  way  of  Jena,  they  received 
from  Dr.  Buddaeus  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  Court 
preacher  Ziegenhagen.  As  in  the  case  of  many  of  the  early 
Moravian  itinerants  and  messengers,  their  funds  for  the  jour- 
ney consisted  of  faith  rather  than  coin  of  the  realm.  Twenty- 
seven  shillings  formed  the  sum  total  of  their  resources.  Hence 
extreme  privation  was  endured.  In  Rotterdam  they  almost 
perished  from  starvation,  and  lacked  a  lodging  place,  being  con- 
tent to  spend  one  night  on  the  city  wall.  In  their  extremity 
one  of  the  three  was  about  to  sell  himself  for  a  period  of  years 
for  labor  in  the  East  Indies  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company,  when  means  of  transport  to  Harwich  were  pro- 
vided through  the  good  offices  of  a  compassionate  stranger. 
But  after  their  reaching  London  their  errand  failed  of  success, 
largely  through  the  hostility  of  Ziegenhagen,  whom  the  Hellen- 
sians  had  prejudiced.  Such  was  the  first  contact  of  the  resus- 
citated Moravian  Church  with  Britain. 

Somewhat  more  significant,  and  productive  of  future  conse- 
quences, was  the  visit  of  Spangenberg  to  London  from  Decem- 
ber 28,  1734,  to  February  3,  1735.  Not  only  did  he  accomplish 
his  mission  of  preparing  the  way  for  the  colonists  destined  for 
Georgia,  but  he  also  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Weinanz, 
a  Dutch  merchant  at  whose  house  Bohler  later  met  John  Wes- 
ley.   Moreover,  the  meetings  of  a  devotional  character  which 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


85 


were  maintained  by  the  prospective  colonists  on  their  arrival 
in  London  were  attended  by  pious  fellow  country-men  resident 
in  the  city. 

The  next  contact  of  the  Brethren  with  England  was  in  con- 
nection with  the  setting  out  of  the  second  company  for  Georgia, 
under  Bishop  Nitschmann.  They  sailed  in  the  same  ship  with 
the  Wesleys  and  arrived  at  Savannah  on  February  7,  1737. 

It  was  whilst  this  ship  with  its  important  freight  of  souls  was 
yet  being  tossed  on  the  high  seas,  that  Count  Zinzendorf,  with 
Wenceslaus  Neisser,  arrived  in  London,  towards  the  end  of 
January.  He  wished  to  confer  with  the  Trustees  of  Georgia 
respecting  the  Moravian  colony,  a  task  which  was  materially 
lightened  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  Andrew  Dober  with  let- 
ters thence.  Incidentally  moreover  his  seeking  counsel  from 
Archbishop  Potter  of  Canterbury  in  regard  to  his  own  conse- 
cration as  a  bishop  of  the  Brethren's  Church  led  to  the  pro- 
posal that  the  Brethren  should  undertake  a  mission  amongst 
the  negro  slaves  in  South  Carolina,  a  mission  to  which  Peter 
Bohler  was  subsequently  called.  During  his  stay  in  London 
the  devotions  of  his  household  were  attended  by  a  number  of 
Germans,  presumably  the  same  who  had  been  attracted  to  the 
meetings  of  the  colonists  whilst  en  route.  Amongst  them  Zin- 
zendorf now  organized  a  "society"  of  which  Andrew  Ostroem 
and  John  Frederick  Ilintz  were  the  chief  officers.  On  March  6 
he  left  for  Rotterdam. 

Early  next  year  Peter  Bohler  arrived,  and  with  his  arrival  the 
more  definite  influence  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  the  eccle- 
siastical life  of  Britain  began.  Nor  was  there  the  less  need  in 
Britain  than  on  the  Continent  for  the  wholesome  introduction 
of  the  fervid  and  cheerful  piety  and  the  realization  of  personal 
assurance  which  characterized  the  Brethren's  theology  and  life. 
The  cold  intellectuahsm  of  Tillotson,  paramount  in  the  best 
circles,  was  having  its  legitimate  efifect  in  repressing  religious 
spontaneity.  The  swing  of  the  pendulum  from  the  fanaticism 
typical  of  England  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  to 
the  reckless  license  of  the  Restoration  had  begun  to  incline 
towards  external  adherence  to  accredited  dogmas  in  combina- 
tion with  a  disrelish  for  vital  godliness.  The  wretchedness  of 
the  masses  was  as  lamentable  as  their  ignorant  superstition. 
Drunkenness  and  debauchery  were  too  common  not  to  be  pal- 
liated.   Profanity  was  the  vice  of  both  sexes  and  all  classes. 


86 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Gross  brutality  entailed  slight  reproach.  Numbers  regarded 
highway  robbery  as  the  trade  of  a  gentleman.  The  courts  of 
justice  suffered  notoriously  from  bribery.  Charities  were 
openly  perverted  or  despoiled.  The  prisons  for  criminals  and 
for  debtors  had  not  yet  felt  the  efforts  of  a  Howard.  A 
"Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners"  had  been  formed, 
but  even  its  members  laid  more  stress  on  church  attendance 
and  other  formaHties  than  on  heart  religion.  In  his  narrative 
of  the  awakening  in  England,  James  Hutton,  who  became  so 
prominent  in  the  establishment  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Eng- 
land, and  whose  father  had  opened  his  own  house  to  the  meet- 
ings of  one  of  these  societies — counterparts  of  Spener's  cccle- 
siplae — testifies  with  regard  to  it,  that  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers were  "altogether  slumbering  or  dead  souls,  who  cared  for 
nothing  but  their  comfort  in  this  world,  and  as  they  had  once 
joined  this  connection  they  were  wilHng  to  continue  in  this  re- 
spectable pastime  on  Sunday  evenings,  by  which  at  a  small  ex- 
pense they  could  enjoy  the  pleasure,  and  fancy  themselves  bet- 
ter than  the  rest  of  the  world  who  did  not  do  the  like."  Thus 
it  had  continued  until  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1729,  when 
several  students  at  Oxford — John  Wesley,  a  graduate,  Charles, 
his  brother,  George  Whitefield,  Benjamin  Ingham,  John  Gam- 
bold,  and  others,  about  one  dozen  in  all — covenanted  to  live 
piously  and  seek  the  one  thing  needful  through  a  weekly  cele- 
bration of  the  Holy  Communion,  the  common  study  of  the 
Greek  New  Testament,  stated  observance  of  fasting,  regular 
hours  for  private  devotions,  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  of  the 
poor,  and  of  prisoners,  and  the  instruction  of  neglected  children. 
Laying  great  stress  upon  a  systematic  regulation  of  their  time, 
they  had  been  sneered  at  as  "Methodists."  But  with  all  their 
holy  desires  they  did  not  as  yet  apprehend  the  possibility  of  an 
assurance  of  salvation  through  faith  in  the  meritorious  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  Christ. 

On  the  very  day  of  his  arrival  in  London,  February  7,  1738, 
Peter  Bohler  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Wesley,  meeting 
him  at  his  lodgings,  the  home  of  Weinanz,  whither  he  came 
with  a  letter  from  Toltschig,  whom  he  had  left  in  Georgfia.  He 
had  landed  only  on  the  first  of  the  month.  It  was  destined 
to  be  a  meeting  fraught  with  momentous  consequences.  Here 
are  two  ardent  young  men,  scholarly,  deeply  in  earnest.  The 
one  has  lately  returned  from  his  attempt  at  mission  work,  con- 


PETER  BOHLER. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


87 


scious  of  failure,  and  conscious  that  deep  down  he  lacks  some- 
thing, the  possession  of  which  would  have  averted  failure.  He 
is  burning  with  ardor  to  serve  his  Lord  and  his  own  generation, 
a  very  knight  errant  of  the  gospel,  yet  not  himself  in  the  light 
as  to  fimdamentals.  The  other  is  nine  years  the  junior  of  his 
new  English  acqvtaintance,  and  has  been  ordained  a  few  weeks 
since,  with  a  commission  to  cross  to  the  western  world.  His 
cheerful,  open  countenance  invites  confidence.  There  is  a  poise 
of  calm  and  peace  which  the  senior  lacks,  for  all  his  advantage 
of  years  and  experience.  As  zealous  as  he  of  doing  with  his 
might  what  his  hand  finds  to  do,  Bohler  is  more  free  from 
anxiety  respecting  the  leading  of  the  Lord.  Whilst  they  converse 
together  through  the  medium  of  Latin,  it  is  natural  that  their 
very  similarity  and  dissimilarity  should  mutually  attract.  With 
Bohler  are  SchuHus,  who  is  to  accompany  him  to  America,  and 
Abraham  Ehrenfried  Richter  and  Wenceslaus  Neisser,  whom 
Zinzendorf  has  sent  to  maintain  the  connection  with  the  pious 
Germans  of  London,  previously  gathered  by  him  into  a  society. 
Wesley  is  staying  at  the  house  of  a  young  book-seller,  James 
Hutton,  in  Nettleton  Court,  Aldersgate  Street. 

Just  how  the  time  was  spent  and  what  transpired  during  the 
next  ten  days,  is  not  ascertainable  from  any  existing  records, 
and  yet  is  very  open  to  conjecture,  from  the  fact  that  Wesley 
was  Hutton's  guest.  This  earnest  young  man  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  Wesleys  whilst  on  a  visit  to  some  of  his  for- 
mer school-fellows  at  the  university  in  the  days  when  the  "Holy 
Club"  at  Oxford  was  bearing  reproach  and  fitting  its  members 
for  future  service.  Of  kindred  mind  with  them,  Hutton  had 
invited  them  to  stop  at  his  father's  house  when  next  they  came 
to  the  city.  This  had  happened  when  they  were  about  to  pro- 
ceed to  Georgia  in  1735,  under  the  auspices  of  the  "Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  During  this 
visit  the  preaching  and  example  of  John  Wesley  had  made  a 
deep  impression  on  the  heart  of  Hutton.  He  accompanied  the 
Wesleys  to  their  ship,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bishop 
Nitschmann  and  the  second  party  of  Moravians  destined  for 
Georgia,  being  favorably  drawn  to  them  by  their  apostolic 
devotion  and  unfailing  cheerfulness.  At  the  expiration  of  his 
apprenticeship  Hutton  had  commenced  business  as  a  book- 
seller on  his  own  account,  and  had  a  society  meet  at  his  house 
for  mutual  edification  week  by  week.    Maintaining  his  corre- 


88 


A  HISTORY  OF 


spondence  with  Wesley,  he  read  the  diary  of  the  voyage  to  a 
number  of  people.  That  Wesley  should  now  introduce  Bohler 
to  Hutton  was  therefore  natural.  And  that  Bohler  should 
preach  in  Latin  to  various  affiliated  "societies,"  Hutton  or 
Viney,  one  of  the  Oxford  Methodists,  serving  as  interpreter, 
was  also  natural.  The  account  of  the  calm  faith  of  his  Brethren 
during  the  storm  at  sea  would  have  prepossessed  a  number  in 
his  favor.  His  presentation  of  a  living  Christ  and  free  grace 
for  the  sake  of  His  love  manifested  in  His  sacrificial  death,  fell 
like  seed  into  fallow  soil  that  had  been  well  harrowed  by 
legalism.  On  February  17  Bohler  accepts  an  invitation  to  pro- 
ceed to  Oxford  with  Wesley.  Soon  the  acquaintance  of  John 
Gambold,  the  young  rector  of  Stanton  Harcourt,  an  associate 
of  Wesley's  student  days,  and  like  him  a  deeply  earnest  seeker 
after  peace,  is  made,  and  to  him  Bohler  is  early  privileged  to 
act  the  part  of  Priscilla  and  Aquila  towards  Apollos.  John 
Wesley  returns  to  London  on  the  20th,  but  Bohler  remains. 
On  the  22d  he  addresses  a  gathering  of  students,  and  proves 
helpful  to  some.  Charles  Wesley  is  now  taken  seriously  ill, 
and  Bohler  whilst  nursing  him  is  drawn  into  a  relation  of  pecu- 
liar intimacy,  and  is  privileged  to  lead  him  into  the  light.  By 
March  5  John  Wesley  is  convinced  that  he  himself  has  been 
resting  on  a  false  ground.  He  has  several  close  conversations 
with  Bohler  in  the  latter  part  of  April.  The  other  Moravians 
add  the  testimony  of  their  own  experience,  that  it  is  possible 
to  gain  assurance  of  acceptance  with  God.  Bohler's  exposition 
of  the  PauHne  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  at  last  removes 
the  lingering  mists  from  John  Wesley's  mind,  and  after  Bohler 
on  May  4  leaves  London  for  Southampton,  to  embark  for 
America,  he  can  on  May  24  write  triumphantly  giving  him  as- 
surance that  he  has  found  peace.  Meantime  Hutton  has  also 
made  the  great  experience. 

Already  on  May  i  Bohler  and  Wesley  had  drawn  up  statutes 
for  the  first  society  of  the  Brethren,  which  met  at  the  house 
of  Hutton,  until  its  accommodations  proved  too  small,  when 
it  removed  to  the  chapel,  32  Fetter  Lane,  known  as  the  Great 
Meeting  House,  or  Bradbury's  Meeting  House.  Shortly  after- 
wards Hutton  wrote  a  letter  to  Zinzendorf,  signed  by  fourteen 
members  of  the  society,  asking  that  on  his  return  from  America 
Bohler  be  retained  as  their  pastor  in  England. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


89 


John  Wesley  now  for  a  time  seemed  likely  to  altogether  cast 
in  his  lot  with  the  Moravians.  On  June  13,  together  with  Ing- 
ham and  Toltschig,  who  had  returned  from  Georgia,  he  sailed 
for  Rotterdam,  thence  to  proceed  up  the  Rhine  to  visit  Zinzen- 
dorf  in  Wetteravia.  At  Marienborn  Ingham  was  permitted  to 
participate  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper  with  the  con- 
gregation, but  the  request  of  Wesley  was  not  granted,  on  the 
ground  of  his  being  a  homo  pertiirbatus.  Nevertheless  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  incensed  at  the  refusal.  For  at  Wei- 
mar, when  asked  by  the  Duke,  why  he  was  going  to  Herrnhut, 
he  replied,  "To  see  the  place  where  the  Christians  live."  At 
Halle  the  views  of  the  younger  Francke  respecting  Zinzendorf 
were  not  accepted  by  him  without  reserve.  In  Herrnhut  he 
heard  Christian  David  preach  four  times  to  his  edification,  and 
had  various  personal  interviews  with  him.  Ingham  for  his  part 
was  wholly  charmed  with  all  he  witnessed.  But  his  com- 
panion mingled  admiration  with  questioning;  for  on  his  re- 
turn to  England  he  endeavored  to  disconnect  Hutton  and  his 
society  from  the  Moravians,  though  without  effect.  As  yet 
indeed  the  differences  of  conception  were  not  clearly  formu- 
lated. On  January  i,  1739,  the  two  Wesleys,  Whitefield,  Ing- 
ham, Kinchin,  and  Hutchins  were  all  able  to  heartily  partici- 
pate in  a  lovefeast  at  Fetter  Lane,  remarkable  for  enthusi- 
astic unit)'.  And  it  was  with  the  cordial  approval  of  the 
Fetter  Lane  Society  that  John  Wesley  in  April  acceded  to 
Whitefield's  request  to  proceed  to  Bristol.  Now  began  his 
wonderful  career  of  open-air  preaching.  At  this  time  Hutton 
and  Viney  left  for  Germany,  to  strengthen  the  bonds  which 
linked  them  with  the  Brethren.  On  their  return  they  brought 
back  Toltschig,  who  was  commissioned  to  visit  awakened  per- 
sons in  England.  It  was  the  end  of  October  before  they 
reached  London.  At  this  very  juncture  Spangenberg  returned 
from  Pennsylvania.  Previous  to  the  arrival  of  any  of  these, 
however,  Molther,  who  had  received  a  call  to  Pennsylvania, 
reached  London  and  learnt  that  no  vessel  was  likely  to  sail 
before  the  middle  of  the  following  January.  He  naturally  at- 
tached himself  to  the  Fetter  Lane  Society.  When  John  Wes- 
ley returned  to  London  at  the  beginning  of  November  the  two 
found  themselves  compelled  to  disagree.  To  Wesley,  Philip 
Henry  Molther,  who  appears  to  have  been  inclined  to  quietism, 
seemed  to  underrate  the  value  of  the  means  of  grace,  since  he 


90 


A  HISTORY  OF 


recommended  inquirers  simply  to  be  still,  and  wait  till  they 
received  the  gift  of  justifying  faith,  meantime  abstaining  from 
the  means  of  grace,  and  especially  from  the  Lord's  supper. 
Furthermore,  Molther  would  not  admit  that  there  are  degrees 
and  grades  of  faith.  To  Molther,  Wesley  seemed  to  teach 
what  bordered  on  justification  by  works,  and  to  be  in  antag- 
onism with  scripture  in  affirming  the  possibility  of  complete 
sanctification — sinless  perfection.  DiflPerences  now  grew  apace. 
Wesley  charged  the  Moravians  with  antinomianism,  and  they 
regarded  him  as  perverting  the  doctrine  of  salvation  through 
grace  without  merit.  The  disagreement  came  to  a  head  on 
July  20,  when  John  Wesley  withdrew  from  Fetter  Lane,  having 
already  in  June  organized  those  who  were  of  his  way  of  think- 
ing. Thus  arose  the  Foundry  Society  in  Moorfields.  For  a 
season  bitterness  was  felt.  But  the  estrangement  was  not  per- 
manent. Even  during  Wesley's  lifetime  it  was  mutually  recog- 
nized that  each  body  had  its  own  specific  destiny  to  fulfill. 

Meanwhile  Spangenberg  and  Molther  had  made  a  deep  im- 
pression on  many  in  London ;  and  Ingham  and  Delamotte,  who 
were  closely  connected  with  the  Brethren  (though  the  former 
never  took  a  radical  step  like  that  of  Gambold,  but  refrained 
from  severing  his  connection  with  the  Established  Church)  with 
Toltschig  were  rewarded  by  becoming  instrumental  in  promot- 
ing a  mighty  revival  of  religion  in  Yorkshire.  In  April,  1741, 
Spangenberg,  who  had  been  absent  from  England  for  a  time, 
but  had  returned  to  labor  here  at  the  request  of  Hutton  and 
his  associates,  organized  in  London  the  "Society  for  the  Fur- 
therance of  the  Gospel,"  which  for  about  twelve  years  did  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  work  in  promoting  both  home  and  foreign 
missions.  Then  suffering  a  decHne,  it  was  reorganized  in  1766 
by  its  original  founder.  Its  first  committee,  or  board  of  mana- 
gers, were  Hutton,  George  Stonehouse,  vicar  of  Islington, 
Ockershausen,  Bray,  Adam  von  Marschall  and  William  Hol- 
land. During  the  spring  of  this  year,  and  especially  in  May, 
repeated  efforts  were  made  by  Spangenberg  to  effect  a  union 
with  Wesley.  His  pardon  was  asked  for  wrong  things  said  of 
him  by  some  members  of  the  Fetter  Lane  Society.  On  May 
12  Wesley  relented  so  far  as  to  participate  in  a  lovefeast  at 
Fetter  Lane,  but  organic  reunion  was  not  to  be  effected. 
Gradually  the  influence  of  the  Brethren  widened  nevertheless. 
During  this  same  year  Schlicht  visited  Dummer,  Kinchin's 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


91 


parish  in  Hampshire.  Chapman,  Rice  and  Knight  in  turn  fol- 
lowed him ;  and  Gussenbauer  organized  a  society  at  Butter- 
mere,  in  Wiltshire.  In  Bedford  the  Rogers  and  Okely  families 
began  to  come  into  connection  with  the  Moravians.  Ipswich 
was  visited  by  Ostroem.  A  connection  was  estabhshed  with 
Cornwall.  The  first  English  hymn-book  was  ready  by  Novem- 
ber 24,  a  translation  published  as  a  private  undertaking.  By 
May,  1742,  there  were  twenty  German  laborers  engaged  in  the 
work  of  the  church  in  England.  Yet  the  first  congregation 
was  not  formally  estabhshed  in  England  until  November  10, 
1742,  when  Spangenberg  organized  the  Fetter  Lane  congre- 
gation with  a  membership  of  seventy-two.  License  therefor 
was  obtained  from  Doctors'  Commons  on  September  7,  under 
the  designation  "Moravian  Brethren,  formerly  of  the  English 
Commvmion." 


92 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  WORK  AND  WANDERINGS  OF  THE  BANISHED  COUNT. 

That  the  banishment  of  Zinzendorf  had  no  dampening  effect 
upon  his  ardor,  was  abundantly  manifested  from  the  very  first. 
On  his  return  to  Wetteravia  from  his  first  visit  to  the  King 
of  Prussia,  and  prior  to  his  consecration  as  a  bishop,  he  con- 
voked the  first  synod  of  the  resuscitated  Brethren's  Church  at 
Marienborn,  in  December,  1736.  Not  only  was  the  significance 
of  the  Moravian  Episcopate  discussed,  but  various  business  was 
transacted  which  was  closely  connected  with  the  spread  of  the 
influence  of  the  church.  Throughout  the  early  part  of  the  year 
negotiations  had  been  on  foot  for  the  establishment  of  a  settle- 
ment in  Holstein,  near  Odesloff,  five  German  miles  from  Ham- 
burg and  two  and  a  half  from  Liibeck.  The  consent  of  the 
King  of  Denmark  lad  been  granted  in  November,  and  thus 
Pilgerruh  came  into  existence.  This  undertaking  indeed  shriv- 
eled into  nothing  in  a  few  years,  largely  because  the  reigning 
Duke  insisted  that  its  people  should  strictly  adhere  to  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg  and  be  independent  of  Zinzendorf  and 
Herrnhut.  Heerendyk,  in  the  Barony  of  Ysselstein  in  Holland 
was  also  in  process  of  establishment ;  and  although  it  also  failed 
of  permanence,  it  resulted  in  the  settlement  at  Zeist  in  1746. 
The  important  operations  in  Livonia  received  due  attention 
from  the  synod,  and  it  was  arranged  to  send  additional  cate- 
chists  thither.  An  evangelistic  tour  amongst  the  Cevennes  was 
planned  for  De  Watteville.  Similar  operations  in  Scandinavia 
were  projected.  In  consequence  the  Swedish  Diaspora  soon 
attained  important  proportions.  Pastors  Quandt  at  Urbs. 
Suter  at  Camb,  and  Meder  at  Randen  manifested  active  sym- 
pathy. Negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  the  Ronneburg  were 
set  on  foot,  as  a  result  of  which  in  a  few  years  Herrnhaag  was 
founded,  a  second  Herrnhut,  and  after  the  lease  of  Marienborn 
had  been  renewed  in  1738  this  twin  congregation  in  Wetteravia 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


93 


also  grew  in  importance.  Mission  work  in  Surinam  and  Penn- 
sylvania was  discussed. 

Next  month,  with  the  removal  of  young  Christian  Renatus 
Zinzendorf  to  Jena,  in  order  to  prosecute  his  studies  under 
escort  of  John  Nitschmann,  the  sympathetic  tie  which  had  for 
years  linked  many  of  the  students  of  its  university  to  the  life 
and  aims  of  the  Brethren  was  strengthened,  and  a  student-con- 
gregation resulted  that  became  of  great  significance  in  later 
years,  inasmuch  as  after  the  expulsion  of  this  band  of  sympa- 
thizers in  April,  1739,  a  number  of  them  entered  the  theological 
seminary  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Herrnhaag  under  Poly- 
carp  Miiller  and  Layritz,  and  about  sixty  in  time  served  in  its 
ministry. 

After  Zinzendorf's  consecration,  thanks  to  the  pressure 
which  Field  Marshall  von  Nazmer  brought  to  bear  upon  Count 
Briihl,  the  minister  of  King  Augustus,  he  was  privileged  to 
spend  a  portion  of  the  year  1737  at  Herrnhut,  and  for  a  time 
there  seemed  to  be  some  slight  prospect  of  a  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  banishment.  But  when  he  found  it  impossible  to  agree 
to  conditions  which  would  have  practically  involved  self-incrim- 
ination, the  King  remained  obdurate,  and  in  July  issued  a  strin- 
gent decree  against  conventicles,  designed  to  strike  a  blow  at 
the  special  institutions  of  Herrnhut.  Zinziendorf's  renewed  re- 
quest for  a  judicial  investigation  at  which  he  might  receive  a 
hearing  was  refused,  and  in  March,  1738,  a  sentence  of  per- 
petual banishment  was  pronounced.  For  the  next  ten  years 
the  existence  of  Herrnhut  remained  in  uncertainty,  and  its 
religious  hfe  stood  quite  isolated  in  Saxony.  Rothe,  no  longer 
in  sympathy  with  the  Brethren,  had  left  Berthelsdorf  during  the 
previous  year.  Zmzendorf  himself  set  out  from  Herrnhut  for 
Wetteravia  on  December  4,  arriving  there  ten  days  later.  On 
the  sixteenth  of  the  month  he  performed  his  first  episcopal 
function,  the  ordination  of  Peter  Bohler.  But  before  the  year 
was  ended  the  Count  visited  Berlin,  by  way  of  Jena  and  Halle. 
Whilst  at  the  former  city  he  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
man  destined  to  become  his  principal  assistant,  and  to  be  bound 
to  him  by  a  special  tie.  This  was  John  Michael  Langguth,  the 
son  of  the  Lutheran  pastor  of  Walschleben,  now  just  of  age. 
He  shortly  afterwards  attached  himself  to  Zinzendorf  person- 
ally, becoming  his  private  secretary.  Seven  years  later  he  was 
adopted  by  Frederick  de  Watteville,  whose  only  child  had  died, 


94 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  was  later  by  letters  patent  created  a  baron  of  the  German 
Empire.    He  married  Zinzendorf's  eldest  daughter,  Benigna. 

During  the  first  three  months  of  1738,  spent  in  Berhn,  the 
Count  delivered  two  series  of  sermons  which  attracted  large 
numbers  and  drew  pubHc  attention  to  him  and  his  cause.  The 
one  was  addressed  to  women,  and  constituted  an  exposition  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer ;  the  other,  to  men,  was  based  on  the  second 
article  of  Luther's  Erkldrungen.  Taken  down'  by  Langguth  as 
delivered,  and  published  soon  afterwards,  the  Berliner  Reden 
incited  a  considerable  number  of  persons  to  desire  fellowship 
with  the  Brethren.  A  society  was  accordingly  organized, 
which  later  became  the  nucleus  of  a  congregation.  Meanwhile 
the  Berhn  congregation  of  Bohemians  was  growing,  and  simi- 
larly developed  into  the  Rixdorf  organization.  During  this  visit 
the  friendship  with  King  F'rederick  Wilham  was  strengthened. 
Furthermore  the  Count's  entrance  upon  a  distant  field  was  de- 
termined upon — America,  a  plan  the  advisability  of  which  be- 
came the  more  apparent  after  Toltschig  reported  to  him  in 
August  at  Marienborn  with  regard  to  the  progress  of  affairs  in 
the  Moravian  colony  in  Georgia.  During  a  conference  held  in 
October  it  was,  furthermore,  decided  that  this  American  tour, 
to  be  made  by  way  of  St.  Thomas,  should  include  Pennsylvania 
in  addition  to  the  southern  colony. 

From  the  latter  part  of  May  to  the  latter  part  of  October, 
with  the  exception  of  brief  intervals,  Zinzendorf's  residence  was 
in  Wetteravia,  where  Herrnhaag  was  increasing  in  importance. 
Thence  he  proceeded  to  Amsterdam  in  hopes  of  finding  a  ship 
for  the  immediate  voyage  to  St.  Thomas.  In  this  he  was  dis- 
appointed. It  was  the  21st  of  December  before  anchor  was 
weighed.  Yet  the  delay  was  opportune.  At  this  very  juncture 
a  publication  came  out  under  the  title  of  a  pastoral  letter — 
Hirtcnbricf — in  which  the  Brethren  and  Zinzendorf  in  particular 
ticular  were  pilloried,  as  perverters  of  the  faith.  The  era  of 
polemical  tractates  against  the  Brethren  had  commenced.  Al- 
ready various  pastors  and  university  professors  in  Utrecht  and 
Groningen  had  attacked  the  church,  and  in  October  De  Watte- 
ville  had  endeavored  to  clear  away  the  fog  by  publishing  an 
explanation  of  the  purposes  of  the  Brethren  in  Holland.  The 
particular  polemic  now  causing  trouble  had  been  issued  by  Dr. 
Kulenkamp,  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  though  Francis  de 
Bruyn  and  another  clergyman  had  protested  against  its  pub- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


95 


lication.  He  declared  that  Zinzendorf  and  his  associates  were 
not  to  be  identified  with  the  Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren, 
who  were  worthy  of  all  honor,  but  were  mere  sentimental  mys- 
tics, neither  good  Lutherans  nor  good  Reformed.  Zinzendorf 
now  published  a  reply.  Nor  did  the  affair  prevent  the  organi- 
zation of  the  society  in  Amsterdam  on  a  permanent  basis  on 
November  24,  Jacob  Schellinger,  Grasmann  and  Catharine 
Beuning  being  prominent  amongst  its  officers. 

At  length  Zinzendorf  put  to  sea.  The  account  of  the  voyage 
and  the  providential  opportuneness  of  his  arrival  at  St. 
Thomas  belong  to  the  history  of  the  missions.  The  visit  was 
brief,  and  circumstances  interfered  with  the  projected  voyage 
to  the  American  continent.  Reaching  Dover  on  his  return  on 
April  20,  a  hasty  visit  was  made  to  London  and  to  Oxford, 
which  appears,  however,  to  have  been  without  special  signifi- 
cance for  the  work  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  England.  In 
Holland  he  found  that  the  pastoral  letter  had  aroused  bitter 
opposition  and  had  poisoned  the  minds  of  many ;  but  the  Breth- 
ren at  Heerendyk  and  in  Amsterdam  were  not  dispirited 
thereby.  It  was  the  first  of  June  when  he  returned  to  Marien- 
born.  The  whole  visit  had  been  accomplished  in  a  marvel- 
lously short  time  for  that  era.  Now  when  he  resumed  the 
thread  of  European  activity,  indefatigable  diligence  was  dis- 
played in  spite  of  the  ill  health  which  had  resulted  from  the 
stay  in  the  tropics.  A  synod  was  convened  at  Ebersdorf  from 
June  9  to  16;  then  came  a  journey  to  Wiirttemberg,  with  many 
public  addresses.  A  serious  attack  of  fever  temporarily  inter- 
rupted active  labor.  As  soon  as  recovery  was  complete  the 
supervision  of  all  manner  of  projected  missions  at  home  and 
abroad,  for  example  the  missions  to  Algiers,  Ceylon  and  to 
the  Indians  of  New  York,  and  the  development  of  the  theo- 
logical seminary  and  oversight  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Wet- 
teravian  congregations  afforded  abundant  labor.  In  the  middle 
of  December,  accompanied  by  De  Watteville,  the  Count  pro- 
ceeded to  Switzerland  via  Basel.  Montmirail  was  their  objec- 
tive point.  The  old  Baron  de  Watteville  was  now  favorably 
disposed.  In  Berne  also  a  number  of  awakened  persons  mani- 
fested sympathy.  From  June  12  to  20  a  synod  met  at  Gotha, 
the  tendency  of  whose  transactions  was  to  lay  emphasis  on  the 
independence  of  the  Moravian  Church  as  a  distinct  ecclesias- 
tical organization.     The  publication  of  the  first  catechism  of 


96 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  resuscitated  Unity  was  authorized.  Yet  the  calHng  of  the 
Brethren's  Church  was  still  conceived  to  be  especially  to  act  as 
a  leaven  amongst  other  bodies,  and  hence  the  term  Diaspora 
was  now  adopted.  The  Count  himself  was  if  anything  more 
than  ever  enamored  of  his  function  to  promote  Christ's  kingdom 
as  a  free  servant  of  the  Lord,  and  spoke  of  resigning  his  epis- 
copal office,  especially  in  connection  with  his  plans  for  personal 
activity  in  Pennsylvania.  Now,  too,  it  was  determined  to  send 
Bishop  Nitschmann  to  that  colony  with  a  band  of  evangeHsts, 
and  Polycarp  Miiller,  formerly  director  of  the  gymnasium  at 
Zittau,  was  chosen  and  consecrated  a  bishop  to  supply  the  va- 
cancy which  would  thus  be  created  in  the  European  work  of 
the  church. 

Another  synod  was  convened  at  Marienborn  from  December 
5  to  31,  1740.  Its  sessions  were  largely  devoted  to  a  discus- 
sion of  the  doctrinal  standpoint  of  the  Brethren's  Church, 
though  important  details  of  administration  were  also  arranged, 
for  example,  that  Bishop  Miiller's  position  in  Wetteravia,  in- 
cluding his  having  charge  of  the  archives  and  church  publica- 
tions, and  an  extensive  manuscript  correspondence,  as  well  as 
his  oversight  of  the  church  schools  and  of  the  theological  semi- 
nary, should  resemble  that  of  the  presiding  bishop  of  old  at 
Jungbunzlau.  Yet  with  all  these  arrangements,  character- 
istic of  distinct  churchliness,  plans  for  the  activity  of  the  Breth- 
ren according  to  the  conception  of  "inner  missions"  were  so 
largely  present  that  they  have  usually  been  allowed  to  over- 
shadow the  former  almost  to  the  degree  of  causing  them  to 
be  ignored.  At  the  close  of  this  synod,  on  December  31,  1740, 
Leonard  Dober  had  asked  to  be  relieved  of  his  chief-eldership, 
and  soon  afterwards  Zinzendorf  desired  to  lay  down  his  office 
of  general-warden.  After  the  latter,  with  his  chief  associates, 
had  spent  a  season  of  evangelistic  labor  in  Switzerland,  with 
headquarters  in  Geneva,  experiencing  bitter  opposition  from 
Pastor  Leger,  but  gaining  many  friends,  the  Castle  of  Mont- 
mirail  henceforth  becoming  a  center  of  Diaspora  activity  in 
French  Switzerland,  the  fifth  general  synod  was  convened  at 
Marienborn  to  consider  the  resignations.  Neither  was  ac- 
cepted ;  but  Zinzendorf  resigned  his  episcopal  functions  for  the 
time  being — not  his  episcopal  character,  which  was  appre- 
hended to  be  indelible — in  view  of  his  intended  labors  in  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  wished  to  promote  the  cause  of  true  religion 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


97 


and  vital  Christianity  not  primarily  as  a  Moravian  bishop  but 
as  an  unhampered  servant  of  God.  John  Nitschmann  was 
elected  to  the  vacancy,  and  consecrated  by  Zinzendorf  and 
Miiller  on  July  22.  Further,  Leonard  Dober  received  assist- 
ance by  the  appointment  of  Jacob  Till  as  vice-elder ;  and  it  was 
resolved  to  convene  a  "synodical  conference"  in  London,  the 
membership  of  which  should  be  determined  by  the  lot,  in  order 
to  make  provision  for  the  direction  of  afifairs  during  the  absence 
of  the  Count  in  America.  Dober's  immediate  field  was  to  be 
mission  work  amongst  the  Jews  of  Amsterdam,  while  his 
brother  Martin  and  Arvid  Gradin  were  sent  to  Upsala,  for 
evangelistic  labor  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  where  they  were 
aided  by  the  friendly  approval  of  the  Archbishop  of  Stockholm 
after  their  real  purposes  became  known  and  won  appreciation. 
Gradin  had  already  been  employed  in  distant  service.  In 
March,  1740,  with  Frederick  Cossart,  it  had  been  his  endeavor 
on  the  commission  of  Zinzendorf  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
Greek  Church,  through  personal  interviews  with  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople.  But  the  months  spent  in  the  Orient  had 
been  in  vain. 

The  "synodical  conference",  constituted  of  ten  persons  promi- 
nent in  the  activities  of  the  church — Zinzendorf,  his  wife,  his 
daughter  Benigna,  Leonard  Dober,  Anna  Maria  Lawatsch  who 
was  "general  elderess"  in  place  of  Anna  Nitschmann  now  in 
America,  Frederick  de  Watteville,  Rosina  wife  of  Bishop  David 
Nitschmann,  about  to  follow  her  husband  to  Pennsylvania,  David 
Nitschmann  the  Syndic,  and  Spangenberg  and  his  wife — con- 
vened in  London  in  Zinzendorf 's  apartments  on  September  11, 
1741.  He  was  about  to  sail  for  America  on  the  28th.  Although 
this  convention  is  known  as  a  synodical  conference,  it  really  took 
the  place  of  the  sixth  general  synod.  Its  chief  object  was  to 
provide  for  the  administration  of  affairs  during  the  absence  of 
Zinzendorf.  The  idea  prevailed  that  Leonard  Dober  would 
consent  to  remain  "chief  elder"  and  in  addition  take  on  himself 
the  Count's  duties  as  "general  warden."  But  instead,  he  was 
firm  in  resigning  his  office  and  in  declining  the  added  duties, 
being  sustained  in  his  decision  by  the  lot.  In  drafting  a  reply 
to  Dober,  the  conference  submitted  each  paragraph  to  the  lot 
in  like  manner.  Now  those  present  found  themselves  in  per- 
plexity. Various  Brethren  were  nominated  as  Dober's  succes- 
sor; but  the  lot  negatived  each.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  on 
8 


98 


A  HISTORY  OF 


a  sudden  the  idea  presented  itself  simultaneously  to  every  mind, 
"The  Saviour  shall  be  our  Chief  Elder."  One  of  the  members 
opened  the  Text-book  for  the  new  year  at  these  two  passages : — 
"I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock,"  Rev.  3  :  20,  and  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  and  His  Maker,  Ask  of  me  things 
to  come  concerning  my  sons,  and  concerning  the  work  of  my 
hands  command  ye  me,"  Is.  45:11.  At  the  same  time  it  ap- 
peared that  the  text  for  the  day  was,  "The  glory  of  the  Lord 
came  into  the  house,"  Ezek.  43  14.  Full  of  enthusiastic  faith  as 
to  the  meaning  of  these  passages,  the  confernce  now  submitted 
the  following  question  to  the  Lord  by  lot,  "Ob  dies  nun  so  vicl 
zu  hcdcntcn  habc,  dass  dcr  Hciland  das  Amt  sclbst  ubernehmen 
zvolle" — "Whether  this  signified  that  the  Saviour  would  Himself 
undertake  the  office."  The  answer  of  the  lot  was  now  affirma- 
tive. In  the  simplicity  of  faith  the  members  of  the  conference 
regarded  it  as  an  answer  direct  from  the  Lord  Himself,  the  chief 
eldership  was  abrogated,  and  Grasmann  and  Till  were  chosen  as 
special  elders  for  Herrnhut  and  Herrnhaag.  Thus  ensued  "a 
powerful  experience,  in  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren,  that  Jesus  is 
the  Chief  Shepherd  and  Head  of  His  Church." 

It  would  appear  that  prior  to  November  13  this  occurrence 
was  not  made  known  to  the  congregations,  but  merely  to  the 
"elders'  conferences."  The  former  were  only  informed  that 
something  extraordinary  had  transpired.  When  all  was  dis- 
closed on  November  13,  special  feeling  was  manifested  by  young 
and  old.  Meanwhile,  in  place  of  Zinzendorf  as  "general  war- 
den" the  so-called  "General  Conference"  was  estabhshed,  con- 
sisting of  Bishops  Miiller  and  John  Nitschmann,  Frederick  de 
Watteville,  and  other  prominent  leaders. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  story  of  this  unique  transaction,  which 
exercised  great  influence  upon  the  after-history  of  the  Brethren's 
Church.  There  exists  no  formal  journal  of  the  conference  held 
in  London.  Sources  for  the  narrative  are: — i.  Short  declara- 
tions in  regard  to  this  subject  by  Count  Zinzendorf,  Jonas  Pauhis 
Weiss,  and  an  unknown  writer.  2.  A  collection  of  documents 
by  David  Nitschmann,  1741-1759.  3.  The  diaries  of  Herrnhut 
and  Herrnhaag,  giving  an  account  of  the  celebration  of  Novem- 
ber 13.  4.  The  most  important  printed  source,  because  it  comes 
from  an  eye  witness,  is  Spangenberg's  Lchcn  Zinzendorf,  p.  1350, 
etc.  (See  also  Memorial  Days,  208-222,  Croger's  Gescliichte, 
p.  416;  Burkardt's  Zinzendorf  iind  die  Brndergemeine,  p.  87-95; 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


99 


"Forscher's"  Was  ist  die  Wahrheitf  p.  15,  etc.,  and  the  Synodal 
Journal  of  1857). 

Confessedly  the  subject  is  involved  in  difficulties.  The  fol- 
lowing considerations  have  been  urged  by  conservative  writers : 

1.  The  details  of  the  proceedings  of  the  "synodical  confer- 
ence" on  September  16  are  not  fully  known. 

2.  These  proceedings  took  place  amidst  an  extraordinary 
manifestation  of  emotional  religion. 

3.  Hence  the  principal  occurrence  itself,  the  making-over  to 
Jesus  of  the  office  of  chief  elder  was  not,  properly  speaking,  an 
objective  act,  but  a  subjective  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  the 
members. 

4.  When  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment  had  passed  away,  it 
is  very  likely  that  different  brethren  understood  the  actual  re- 
sult of  their  experience  in  a  somewhat  different  way. 

5.  The  elder's  office  had  been  originally  an  office  of  interces- 
sion, and  was  not  in  any  wise  connected  with  the  government 
of  the  church.  But  now  the  idea  of  government  was  added  to 
it.  This  led  to  the  notion  of  a  theocracy.  By  some  it  was 
openly  said  that  the  Brethren's  Church  constituted  the  chosen 
people  of  the  New  Testament,  that  Christ  had  made  a  special 
covenant  with  it,  and  that  he  governed  it  immediately  by  the 
lot.  At  the  present  time  the  objectionable  idea  of  a  theocracy 
no  longer  obtains ;  but  the  term,  "The  Government  of  the 
Saviour  in  the  Brethren's  Church"  is  still  used.  What  is  meant 
by  this  term  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Results  of  the  General 
Synod  of  1899  pp.  51  to  56,  and  especially  in  the  following  para- 
graphs : — 

"We  speak  of  the  'Elder's  Office  of  the  Saviour'  in  the  Breth- 
ren' Church ;  we  call  Him  the  'Elder'  of  our  Church.  We  imply 
thereby  nothing  else  than  Christ's  office  as  Shepherd  and  King 
in  His  Church,  as  attested  in  Holy  Scripture.  We  declare,  how- 
ever, thereby  at  the  same  time,  that  Christ  exercises  this  office 
in  our  Brethren's  Church  in  a  particular  manner,  corresponding 
with  its  purpose  and  its  requirements,  after  He  had  brought 
our  Church  to  a  consciousness  of  its  great  poverty  and  need, 
and  thereby  to  a  child-like  faith  in  His  sovereignty — to  the  full 
and  conscious  appropriation  of  this  blessing. 

"Something  similar  takes  place  in  the  experience  of  individual 
believers.  Though  all  that  which  Christ  purposes  to  be  to  His 
own  exists  for  each  one,  yet  He  often  gives  possession  of  Him- 


lOO 


A  HISTORY  OF 


self  to  individuals  in  a  particular  manner  in  one  or  the  other  re- 
spect, as  they  desire  to  possess  themselves  of  the  gift  in  faith, 
and  according  to  the  peculiarity  of  mind  and  soul  bestowed  by 
God  on  each,  or  the  particular  conditions  of  the  outer  and  inner 
life  into  which  the  Lord  leads  them.  For  the  Saviour  gives  to 
each  believer  that  which  he  particularly  needs.  And  what  we 
thus  observe  in  the  case  of  individuals  may  also  take  place  in 
whole  rehgious  communions  in  proportion  to  the  measure  in 
which  they  really  constitute  a  community  and  are  capable  of 
making  common  experiences. 

"Accordingly  the  Saviour  has  led  our  Brethren's  Church  in  a 
particular  manner  to  experience  and  believingly  to  appropriate 
the  blessing  of  His  office  of  Shepherd.  He  prepared  the  Church 
for  this  from  the  beginning,  by  teaching  it  not  only  in  faith  to 
lay  hold  of  His  work  of  atonement,  but  also  to  keep  Himself  in 
view — His  own  person,  at  once,  human  and  divine — and  to 
maintain  cordial  and  confidential  ititercourse  with  Him  as  with 
a  friend  and  brother.  He  then  showed  the  Church  how 
greatly  it  stood  in  need  of  Him  as  its  only  Shepherd  and  Elder. 
He  permitted  the  human  leaders  entirely  to  despair  of  their  own 
ability  to  control  the  constantly-expanding  Church,  and  to  deal 
with  the  dangers  which  beset  it.  He  deprived  the  Church  of  all 
external  support,  and  permitted  it  to  experience  hostile  attacks 
from  all  sides.  At  the  same  time  He  committed  to  it  a  work 
which  far  exceeded  its  strength  and  means.  And  when  He  had 
thus  brought  His  servants  to  the  complete  recognition  of  their 
own  weakness  and  inability,  and  when  in  this  their  perplexity 
they  fervently  besought  Him  to  take  them  under  His  own 
charge,  He  heard  and  answered  according  to  His  promise 
their  united  prayer,  and  manifested  Himself  to  them  as  wilHng 
to  be  their  All." 

6.  Unfortunately  assumptions  were  made  in  the  early  times 
in  connection  with  September  i6,  for  which  there  is  no  warrant 
in  Scripture — abuses  characteristic  of  the  "Time  of  Sifting,"  but 
long  ago  completely  repudiated. 

7.  In  the  year  1841,  the  centenary  of  the  conference  in  Lon- 
don, certain  individual  ministers  in  Germany,  in  connection  with 
the  celebration  of  November  13,  were  carried  to  extremes  of  en- 
thusiasm, and  entangled  in  phraseology  began  again  to  speak 
in  objectionable  terms  about  the  eldership.  This  led  gradu- 
ally, in  the  years  1855,  1856,  and  1857,  to  a  thorough  discussion 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


lOI 


of  the  whole  subject  in  the  Fraternal  Messenger,  in  England,  and 
in  the  Moravian  in  America,  in  a  pamphlet  written  by  Bishop 
Benade,  and  in  "Forscher's"  Was  ist  die  Wahrheit?  The 
American  and  English  Brethren  and  their  representatives  in  the 
mission  fields  for  the  most  part  stood  out  stoutly  against  every- 
thing unscriptural. 

8.  The  practical  gain  which  abides  from  the  experience  of  the 
men  of  1741,  and  remains  a  heritage  of  their  spiritual  sons,  may 
be  summed  up  thus :  By  this  experience  the  Moravian  Church 
was  saved  from  a  spiritual  popedom.  Personal  daily  fellowship 
with  the  personal  Saviour  is  one  of  the  essentials  of  the  Mora- 
vian conception  of  reUgious  life.  The  headship  of  Jesus  in  the 
church  contains  in  it  truths  of  first  moment  for  the  denomina- 
tion as  such.  It  finally  carries  with  it  the  Moravian  concep- 
tion of  the  ministry,  viz.,  that  ministers  are  absolutely  the  prop- 
ert  of  Christ,  unreservedly  consecrated  to  His  service.  All 
forms  of  labor  done  for  Him  and  as  unto  Him  are  therefore 
equally  honorable. 


I02 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ZINZENDORF  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

When  the  tract  on  the  Lehigh  was  purchased,  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains and  the  Susquehanna  practically  formed  the  northern  and 
western  boundaries  of  the  Proprietaries'  domains  actually  oc- 
cupied by  settlers.  Trackless  and  unbroken  primeval  forests  for 
the  most  part  dominated  the  territory  beyond,  save  where  here 
and  there  around  Indian  villages  corn  waved  in  the  summer  and 
orchards  rejoiced  in  their  russet  glow  in  autumn.  Even  south 
of  the  Blue  Mountains  the  original  masters  of  the  woods  and 
streams  were  reluctant  to  abandon  what  the  settlers  gained  by 
the  cunning  of  the  "Walking  Purchase."  Narrow  though  these 
limits  were,  and  meager  as  was  the  population,  roughly  esti- 
mated at  about  three  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  perhaps  one 
third  were  Germans,  a  number  of  nationalities  and  all  shades 
of  thought  and  creed  were  represented.  When  WilHam  Pcnn 
in  1681  had  received  from  King  Charles  the  territory  of  the 
Delaware  from  the  39th  to  the  426.  degree  north  and  5  degrees 
to  the  west  of  the  river,  he  had  expressly  determined  to  consti- 
tute it  a  refuge  for  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed  of  all  lands. 
In  particular  his  visits  to  the  Rhine-lands  had  drawn  forth  his 
sympathies  towards  those  who  had  been  impoverished  by  the 
devastations  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  or  had  failed  to  partici- 
pate in  the  benefits  of  recognition  by  the  signatories  to  the  peace 
of  Westphalia.  Beginning  with  the  band  of  emigrants  led  by 
Francis  Daniel  Pastorius  in  1683  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Frankfort  Land  Company,  thousands  had  responded  who  de- 
•spaired  of  prosperity  in  their  European  homes  owing  to  the 
almost  incessant  wars  of  the  Continent,  or  restive  under  vexa- 
tious governmental  interference  in  matters  of  conscience  and 
religion.  Some  came  directly  up  the  waterway  of  the  Dela- 
ware, others  drifted  to  the  land  of  promise  after  a  period  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


103 


unsatisfactory  attempts  at  colonization  elsewhere,  especially 
along  the  Hudson  and  its  tributaries. 

By  the  second  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  reHgious 
condition  of  the  Germans  was  deplorable.  Lack  of  adequate 
ministerial  suppHes  and  absence  of  regular  channels  of  connec- 
tion with  recognized  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  Europe  had 
combined  with  the  reaction  against  the  formalism  and  oppres- 
sion of  state  churches  to  produce  something  akin  to  religious 
anarchy.  Irreligion  and  indiflference  to  all  forms  of  public 
worship  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent.  Whilst  it  is  true  that 
many  Mennonites,  Dunkers,  Lutherans  and  Reformed  from  the 
Palatinate,  and  Schwenkfelder  from  Silesia  and  Saxony,  had 
originally  emigrated  for  conscience  sake,  a  larger  number  had 
been  influenced  by  other  motives.  Of  the  few  ministers  who 
came  out  with  the  emigrants  the  most  had  died ;  some  had  re- 
turned. To  English  clergymen  the  Germans  would  not  have 
recourse.  Thousands  who  had  been  nominal  members  of  the 
chvirch  in  the  fatherland  were  now  without  worship,  and  had 
little  or  no  desire  for  it.  There  were  heads  of  families  who  had 
never  been  baptized  and  who  had  received  scanty  if  any  rehgious 
training.  Their  children  were  brought  up  in  a  similar  manner. 
Sectaries  of  all  sorts  could  gather  something  of  a  following  for 
the  most  extravagant  notions.  There  were  hermits  along  the 
Wissahickon  and  Protestant  monks  and  nuns  at  Ephrata.  The 
organized  German  Lutheran  parishes  were  only  three  or  four 
in  number,  and  even  these  were  without  pastors  much  of  the 
time.  Though  the  Swedes  along  the  Delaware  were  somewhat 
better  off,  the  supply  of  ministers  was  inadequate  in  their  case 
also.  Nor  was  the  condition  of  the  Reformed  congregations 
much  superior.  In  neither  case  was  there  the  co-operative 
action  of  a  synod  or  any  systematic  provision  for  general  over- 
sight. Even  had  the  few  congregations  of  these  two  churches 
been  regularly  supplied,  they  would  have  been  quite  inadequate 
to  the  care  of  the  large  German  population.  Besides  various 
separatists  formed  a  feature  of  the  religious  complexion  of  the 
colony,  men  who  had  few  fixed  principles  in  common  save  a 
general  agreement  to  disagree  with  each  other  and  to  oppose  all 
churchly  forms  of  worship  and  all  recognized  confessions.  It 
had  become  a  proverbial  expression,  that  a  man  who  was  utterly 
indifferent  to  revealed  religion  belonged  to  "The  Pennsylvania 
Church." 


104 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Spangenberg  during  his  three  years  of  evangelization  in  the 
colony  became  deeply  impressed  with  the  demands  of  the  situa- 
tion. He  came  in  contact  with  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion 
and  fraternized  with  all  who  sincerely  desired  the  common  good. 
For  men  were  to  be  found  even  among  the  deplorable  confusion 
and  destitution  of  the  times,  who  could  rise  above  the  narrow 
bounds  of  denominationalism  and  plan  for  an  improvement. 
One  outcome  of  his  activity  and  that  of  similarly  minded  men 
was  the  formation  of  an  association  to  amend  the  religious  con- 
dition of  the  Germans.  It  was  known  as  "The  Associated 
Brethren  of  Schippack,"  and  to  it  belonged  men  of  various 
creeds.  Leading  spirits  were :  Henry  Frey,  Christian  Weber, 
Jost  Schmidt,  Henry  Antes,  George  Stiefel,  WiUiam  and  Andrew 
Frey,  Abraham  Wagner,  John  Bertolet,  Francis  Ritter,  William 
Pott,  John  Bechtel,  John  Adam  Gruber,  and  George  Bensel. 
They  met  every  month  in  order  to  consult  concerning  remedies 
for  the  spiritual  destitution  of  the  land,  and  their  conferences 
were  continued  until  1740. 

Spangenberg's  report  of  his  observations  suggested  a  two- 
fold work  amongst  the  colonists  as  awaiting  the  Brethren,  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  nominal  but  unchurched  ad- 
herents of  a  half  forgotten  faith  and  to  the  thousands  who  were 
utterly  ignorant,  and  the  establishment  of  schools,  educational 
facilities  being  practically  non-existent  amongst  the  colonists 
in  the  interior.  And  it  also  sounded  a  call  to  mission  work 
amongst  the  Indians.  After  a  detailed  description  of  the  re- 
ligfious  condition  of  the  nominal  adherents  of  the  two  chief  con- 
fessions and  of  the  separatists,  he  wrote:  "Thus  there  is  now 
a  two-fold  work  for  the  Brethren  who  shall  go  thither  in  pur- 
suance of  the  Lord's  will :  the  gospel  may  be  preached  to  many 
thousands  who  know  nothing  of  it,  or  who  have  an  indescrib- 
able hunger  for  it ;  and  the  awakened  who  are  desirous  for  fel- 
lowship must  be  gathered  into  congregations.  And  this  is  not 
the  work  for  one  man,  but  for  many.  Moreover  there  are  the 
Indians,  who  do  not  willingly  dwell  near  the  Europeans ;  for 
them  it  may  be  that  the  hour  of  grace  has  sounded.  And  in 
the  whole  country  there  are  few  schools,  and  there  is  almost 
no  one  who  makes  the  youth  his  concern.  One  may  indeed 
see  signs  of  a  waking  up  here  and  there  in  the  land ;  and  it  is 
often  not  otherwise  than  if  a  wind  from  the  Lord  was  passing 
through  the  entire  land  and  bringing  all  into  movement  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


105 


the  spirit  of  inquiry.  But  since  the  afifair  is  so  extensive  every 
one  considers  himself  lacking  in  ability  to  take  it  in  hand.  Per- 
haps the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  in  this."  This  report  led  to  the 
sending  of  Bishop  Nitschmann's  colony  of  evangelists,  and  to 
the  appointment  of  Christian  Henry  Rauch  to  commence  a 
mission  amongst  the  Indians.  And  it  caused  the  Brethren  to 
pay  special  attention  to  educational  work  as  soon  as  they  ob- 
tained a  foothold  in  the  colony. 

Zinzendorf  himself  was  stirred  with  a  noble  ambition,  namely, 
to  effect  an  evangelical  alHance  of  German  Protestants  in  Penn- 
sylvania, irrespective  of  creed.  That  he  might  not  be  ham- 
pered by  prejudice  against  denominationaUsm,  he  had  preHmi- 
narily  resigned  his  powers  as  a  bishop  of  the  Moravian  Church 
at  the  synod  held  at  Marienborn  in  July,  1741.  Whilst  he  held 
the  episcopal  character  to  be  inaHenable,  he  thought  he  could 
differentiate  from  it  the  prerogative  of  active  use  of  episcopal 
powers.  Apart  from  his  Moravian  consecration  as  a  bishop, 
he  felt  entitled  to  exercise  the  functions  of  a  recognized  clergy- 
man in  virtue  of  his  admission  to  orders  by  the  faculty  of 
Tiibingen  in  December,  1734.  At  this  time,  moreover,  no  cen- 
tral ecclesiastical  authority  in  any  church  in  Europe  had  juris- 
diction in  Pennsylvania  with  the  right  to  either  endorse  or  pro- 
hibit labor  of  this  sort  on  his  part.  Furthermore,  in  order  that 
his  rank  might  not  be  obtruded  and  prove  a  hindrance,  it  was 
his  purpose  from  his  very  arrival  in  Pennsylvania  (a  fact  publicly 
acknowledged  before  the  Governor  in  May)  to  be  known  as 
Louis  von  Thiirnstein,  and  not  as  Count  von  Zinzendorf,  for 
the  nonce  making  use  of  a  subordinate  family  name  to  which 
he  was  entitled,  and  which  he  had  already  employed  with  the 
cognizance  of  German  civil  authorities  when  traveling  to  Riga 
in  1736.  With  it  all  it  was  not  his  desire  to  advance  the  Breth- 
ren's Church  as  such.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  himself  as  yet 
fully  recognized  that  by  the  logic  of  events  the  Brethren's 
Church  did  constitute  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  body. 

With  the  stimulating  experiences  of  September  16  in  London 
still  in  mind  and  filled  with  his  lofty  purpose,  Zinzendorf  arrived 
in  Philadelphia  on  December  10,  1741,  having  landed  in  New 
York.  On  the  24th  Governor  Thomas  addressed  to  him  a  let- 
ter of  cordial  welcome,  expressive  of  satisfaction  at  his  pur- 
pose to  supplv  the  Germans  of  the  Province  with  preaching. 
He  received  the  letter  at  the  little  settlement  on  the  Lehigh, 


io6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


where  he  spent  Christmas,  and  gave  the  place  its  significant 
name,  Bethlehem,  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the 
Christmas  Eve  vigils.  On  December  30  he  returned  to  Ger- 
mantown,  lodging  with  John  Bechtel,  a  licensed  preacher 
amongst  the  Reformed.  He  had  previously  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Henry  Antes,  who  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  month  had 
issued  a  call  for  a  general  conference  of  German  Christians  of 
every  name  to  meet  in  Germantown.  This  had  been  preceded 
by  John  Adam  Gruber's  call  to  union  amongst  the  awakened  in 
Pennsylvania,  issued  in  1736,  and  was  directly  in  accord  with 
his  own  plans,  though  it  was  a  fruit  of  the  dehberations  of  the 
"Associated  Brethren  of  Schippack." 

Zinzendorf  attended  this  gathering,  which  met  in  the  house 
of  Theobald  Endten,  in  Germantown,  and  over  which  Antes 
presided.  It  reminded  him  of  the  "Consensus  Sendomiriensis." 
He  threw  himself  into  the  movement  with  all  his  energies,  and 
naturally  by  the  force  of  his  strong  personality  and  rank  and 
educational  advantages  exercised  a  marked  influence  at  this  and 
the  similar  conferences  which  followed,  and  which  were  known 
as  "The  Pennsylvania  Synods  of  the  Congregation  of  God  in 
the  Spirit."  Very  few  of  the  Moravians  were  present  until  the 
seventh  session,  in  June.  Only  two  of  them  were  amongst 
those  who  officially  attested  the  journal  of  the  first  session, 
John  Martin  Mack,  of  Bethlehem,  and  Augustine  Neisser,  of 
Germantown.  At  first  the  outlook  for  organic  Christian  union 
was  very  bright.  Every  German  denomination  in  Pennsyl- 
vania— none  of  them  being  as  yet  organized  for  itself — was 
representd  amongst  the  more  than  one  hundred  members  who 
constituted  the  first  four  synods.  It  seemed  as  though  the  con- 
fessional lines  of  Europe  might  not  necessarily  reappear  in 
Pennsylvania.  Provision  was  made  to  supply  unchurched 
neighborhoods  with  preachers  and  school-masters,  and  to  fill 
vacancies  where  congregations  desired.  Though  Zinzendorf 
had  been  meantime  chosen  as  president,  the  men  so  appointed 
were  by  no  means  regarded  as  Moravians,  but  were  classified 
according  to  their  original  connection.  A  federation  of  the 
churches  seemed  at  one  time  to  be  achieved.  Seven  of  these 
synods  met  before  the  middle  of  the  year :  at  Germantown,  Jan- 
uary I ;  in  George  Hiibner's  house  at  Falckner's  Swamp,  Jan- 
uary 14;  at  Oley  in  the  house  of  John  de  Tiirck,  February  10; 
at  Mr.  Ashmead's  in  Germantown,  March  10;  in  the  Reformed 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Church  in  Germantown,  April  i6,  and  in  Philadelphia,  May  6 
and  June  i.  But  after  the  fourth  synod  the  Lutherans,  Re- 
formed and  Moravians  alone  were  left.  If  anything,  denomi- 
national differences  were  intensified,  and  the  separatists  were 
confirmed  in  their  hostiHty  to  churchly  organization.  Yet 
although  the  project  proved  an  abortive  failure,  being  more 
than  a  century  in  advance  of  the  age,  there  was  in  its  concep- 
tion much  that  is  worthy  of  admiration. 

But  Zinzendorf  did  not  confine  his  activity  to  the  furtherance 
of  efforts  at  union.  In  judging  of  his  undertakings,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  religious  affairs  were  in  an  abnormal  state 
amongst  the  Germans. 

The  Lutheran  congregation  of  Philadelphia,  which  dated 
back  to  about  1730,  and  which  worshiped  in  a  barn  on  Arch 
Street  adapted  to  the  uses  of  religion  and  rented  in  common 
with  the  Reformed,  had  been  without  a  pastor  for  several  years. 
Nor  was  there  any  prospect  of  obtaining  one.  Negotiations 
with  Court  Preacher  Ziegenhagen  in  London  and  with  Halle 
had  been  si:spended  owing  to  the  inability  of  the  congregation 
to  pledge  a  definite  and  adequate  salary  in  cash.  The  warden 
(Vorsteher)  of  the  congregation  in  January,  1742,  in  his  official 
capacity  requested  Zinzendorf  to  fill  their  pulpit.  He  con- 
sented to  do  this  only  after  learning  that  Pastor  Boehm,  of  the 
Reformed  congregation,  who  hved  at  a  distance  and  preached 
only  every  fourth  Sunday,  had  no  objection  to  interpose.  In 
February  a  deputation  of  the  officers  of  the  Lutheran  congre- 
gation requested  Zinzendorf  to  administer  the  Holy  Commu- 
nion to  them.  He  deferred  his  reply  for  a  while,  so  as  to  give 
them  time  to  reconsider  their  request ;  and  then  on  Palm  Sun- 
day conducted  preparatory  services,  and  on  Easter  Sunday  ad- 
ministered the  sacrament  according  to  the  Lutheran  ritual.  A 
few  days  later  the  congregation  gave  him  a  call  to  become  their 
pastor.  Again  he  desired  the  people  to  duly  consider  their  re- 
quest, and  also  propounded  various  questions,  amongst  the  rest 
whether  they  were  imanimous,  etc.  Receiving  an  affirmative 
reply  to  these  inquiries,  and  having  himself  previously  learned 
from  Ziegenhagen  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  a  pastor 
being  sent,  he  finally  accepted  the  call  on  May  26,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  he  was  to  receive  no  salary.  That  he  might 
not  be  hampered  in  his  wider  work,  he  stipulated  that  Christo- 
pher Pyrlaeus,  formerly  student  of  theology  in  Leipsic,  should 


io8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


be  his  assistant.  The  Reformed  then  also  desired  his  minis- 
trations ;  and  a  spirit  of  union  began  to  manifest  itself  amongst 
the  Germans  of  the  city,  mitil  on  July  29,  during  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lutheran  worship,  some  disorderly  persons  rushed 
in,  and  expelling  Pyrlaeus  and  his  hearers,  took  possesion  of 
the  building  in  the  name  of  the  Reformed.  To  prevent  further 
hostihties  Zinzendorf  erected  another  church  at  his  own  ex- 
pence.  This  was  on  Race  Street,  and  was  used  by  the  Luth- 
erans and  by  the  English  Moravians  who  had  arrived  in  Phila- 
delphia early  in  June  as  part  of  the  "First  Sea  Congregation." 
Further  disagreements  followed  as  the  result  of  the  avowed 
efforts  to  destroy  Zinzendorf's  influence,  put  forth  by  Henry 
Melchior  Miihlenberg,  the  father  of  Lutheranism  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, after  his  arrival  in  November.  He  had  previously  been 
superintendent  of  the  orphanage  at  Hennersdorf  maintained 
by  Henrietta  von  Gersdorf,  the  aunt  of  Zinzendorf,  who  was 
estranged  from  him.  Want  of  funds  for  this  establishment  in 
1741  had  led  him  to  Halle,  where  Francke  begged  him  to  sup- 
ply the  urgent  need  of  a  Lutheran  minister  in  Pennsylvania. 
On  Zinzendorf's  part  it  was  quite  natural  not  to  recognize  that 
Halle  had  any  jurisdiction  over  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania. 
On  Miihlenberg's  part  it  was  as  natural  not  to  appreciate  Zin- 
zendorf's scheme  of  Christian  union,  and  to  fail  to  understand 
how  a  man  who  had  been  consecrated  a  bishop  of  the  Moravian 
Church  could  at  the  same  time  retain  orders  in  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Both  were  mortals,  and  liable  to  err.  Both  were 
men  of  God,  and  have  long  since  learnt  to  see  eye  to  eye ;  and 
both  divisions  of  the  church  which  they  planted  in  Pennsyl- 
vania had  a  providential  work  to  perform  in  America. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  year  Zinzendorf  made  three  tours  in 
the  Indian  country.  The  first  of  these,  July  24  to  August  7, 
was  to  the  region  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains.  The  most  im- 
portant event  in  connection  with  this  journey  was  an  interview 
with  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations  at  the  house  of  Conrad 
Weisser,  the  interpreter  for  the  government,  at  Heidelberg. 
These  Indians  were  on  their  way  back  from  an  interview  with 
Governor  Thomas,  at  which  an  important  subject  of  negotia- 
tions had  been  the  persistent  stay  of  the  Delawares  within  the 
"Forks"  south  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  on  land  which  was  to 
have  been  vacated  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  "Walk- 
ing Purchase."     Zinzendorf.  as  the  head  of  the  Moravian 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Church,  now  ratified  a  covenant  of  friendship  with  these  In- 
dians, securing  permission  for  the  Brethren  to  pass  to  and  from 
and  sojourn  within  the  domains  of  the  great  Iroquois  confed- 
eration as  friends  and  not  as  strangers.  Thus  a  door  was 
opened  amongst  the  most  influential  tribes  of  the  Atlantic  slope. 

The  second  journey  was  to  Shekomeko,  in  Dutchess  County, 
New  York.  At  this  place  a  mission  had  been  established  in 
1740.  Christian  Henry  Ranch  had  arrived  in  response  to  the 
appeal  of  Spangenberg,  and  had  accompanied  certain  Mohicans 
from  the  seaport  to  their  home  about  twenty-five  miles  east  of 
the  Hudson,  on  the  borders  of  Connecticut  and  near  Stissik 
Mountain.  In  spite  of  the  danger  from  their  knives  and  toma- 
hawks when  intoxicated,  he  had  persevered,  and  had  the  grati- 
fication of  baptizing  the  first  three  converts  at  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod  at  Oley  in  February,  1742.  Zinzendorf,  on  August  22, 
now  organized  a  congregation  at  Shekomeko,  consisting  of  ten 
Indian  converts ;  and  he  also  perfected  arrangements  for  serving 
the  white  settlers  of  the  vicinity  with  the  gospel. 

The  third  journey,  September  24  to  November  9,  was  from 
Bethlehem  to  Shamokin,  now  Sunbury,  and  the  Wyoming  Val- 
ley. It  has  been  thought  that  his  was  the  first  party  of  white 
people  to  view  this  gem  of  Pennsylvania  scenery.  As  a  mis- 
sionary tour  this  journey  was  of  little  result,  chiefly  owing  to 
the  notorious  Madame  Montour,  whose  services  were  required 
as  interpreter.  It  was  attended  with  many  adventures  and 
dangers.  On  one  occasion,  whilst  Zinzendorf  was  stooping 
over  some  papers  spread  out  upon  the  ground,  two  spreading 
adders  passed  over  his  person  without  injuring  him ;  but  this 
did  not  prevent  the  Indians  from  attempting  the  murderous 
attack  which  they  had  planned,  as  fable  states.  The  treacherous 
design  was  hindered  by  the  providential  arrival  of  Conrad 
Weisser. 

Though  Zinzendorf's  effort  at  a  union  of  denominations  in 
Pennsylvania  failed,  he  was  directly  and  indirectly  instrumental 
in  estabhshing  the  Moravian  Church  in  America  in  a  manner 
which  he  had  not  previously  designed.    Just  before  the  session 
of  the  "Pennsylvania  Synod"  in  Philadelphia  in  June,  fifty- ^ 
seven  ]\Ioravians  arrived  in  that  city  from  Europe,  a  company! 
known  as  the  "First  Sea  Congregation"  from  their  having  been- 
organized  as  such  and  maintaining  stated  worship  and  church 
discipline  during  the  long  voyage.    Peter  Bohler  was  in  charge. 


I  lO 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  majority  of  these  persons  settled  at  Bethlehem,  the  English 
members  being  destined  for  Nazareth,  which  had  recently  been 
bought  from  Whitefield.    A  congregation  was  formally  organ - 

■  ized  at  Bethlehem  by  Zinzendorf  on  June  25.  As  a  result  of  the 
acquaintances  which  he  formed,  congregations  were  also  later 
established  at  Hebron,  Heidelberg",  Oley,  Lancaster  and  York. 
Schools  were  founded  at  Germantown  and  at  Oley. 

V  In  November  of  this  year  the  first  form  of  government  for  the 

■  Moravian  Church  in  America  was  devised,  viz.,  Bishop  Nitsch- 
mann  was  to  superintend  the  Indian  mission,  and  Peter  Bohler 
to  be  the  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod,  with  Seifferth 
as  his  assistant.  A  final  meeting  was  held  with  the  leading 
members  of  the  Synod  at  the  Ridge,  near  Philadelphia,  when 
arrangements  were  made  for  future  convocations.  Then  Zin- 
zendorf dedicated  the  new  church  in  Philadelphia,  January  i, 
1743,  and  set  sail  from  New  York  on  the  9th  in  the  ship  James, 
which  he  had  chartered.  Captain  Garrison  commanding.  His 
return  to  Europe  was  hastened  by  the  news  respecting  the  policy 
of  denominational  extension  pursued  by  the  governing  board,  a 
radical  departure  from  his  own  ideas. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Ill 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CHURCH  ON  THE  CONTINENT,  FROM  THE 
SYNODICAL  CONFERENCE  IN  LONDON  TO  THE  REVERSAL 
OF  THE  DECREE  OF  ZINZENDORF's  EXILE. 

With  Zinzendorf's  setting  sail  for  America  it  became  more 
evident  that  two  inherently  contradictory  purposes  were  actu- 
ating the  operations  of  the  Unity.  On  the  one  hand  men  like 
the  Nitschmanns,  the  Neissers,  the  Dobers  and  Polycarp  Miiller 
were  at  one  in  laboring  for  the  natural  extension  of  the  Unity 
as  one  of  the  ecclesiastical  organizations  of  Christendom.  The 
securing  of  the  episcopate,  even  though  it  had  been  originally 
conceived  as  of  value  first  and  foremost  for  the  missions 
amongst  the  heathen,  gave  natural  justification  to  their  hopes. 
On  the  other  hand  the  great  leader  of  the  Unity  believed  the 
chief  calling  of  the  resuscitated  church  to  be  not  self-propaga- 
tion, but  the  infusion  of  a  vital  leaven  into  the  confessional 
churches  by  the  promotion  of  vital  reHgion  in  the  lives  of 
individual  members  of  these  churches  who  should  not  detach 
themselves  from  the  fellowship  of  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  in 
v/hich  they  had  been  born  even  though  they  became  affiliated 
with  the  Brethren.  If  anywhere  "settlement  congregations"  were 
established,  they  were  to  be  only  strategic  points  aroimd  which 
a  wide  ramification  of  Diaspora  circles  might  be  maintained  in 
efficient  operation.  But  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  old  Unity  had  ever  regarded  with  complete 
satisfaction  this  subordination  of  their  ecclesiastical  indepen- 
dence. When  therefore  an  opportunity  arose  for  the  extension 
of  the  Unity  as  such,  they  naturalty  deemed  it  their  duty  not 
to  fly  in  the  face  of  providence  by  declining  to  enter  the  open- 
ing doors.  Thus,  for  example,  they  in  December,  1741,  wel- 
comed overtures  from  awakened  Bohemians  of  Lusatia,  who 
next  August  founded  Nisky,  with  the  consent  of  their  patron 
Sigismund  Augustus  von  Gersdorf,  lord  of  Trebus. 


112 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  industry  and  thrift  of  the  people  of  Herrnhut  were  now 
attracting  attention,  and  had  come  to  the  notice  amongst  the 
rest  of  the  shrewd  King  of  Prussia,  Frederick  the  Great,  who 
was  not  the  man  to  submit  to  the  outworn  trammels  of  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  even  though  unable  to  appreciate  Herrn- 
hut after  the  fashion  of  his  father.  When  the  Peace  of  Breslau, 
in  June,  1742,  secured  to  him  Silesia  as  the  fruit  of  the  cam- 
paigns of  Olmiitz  and  Glatz,  he  held  out  special  inducements  to 
the  Moravians  to  settle  in  his  newly  acquired  dominions.  On 
their  part  the  negotiations  were  conducted  by  David  Nitsch- 
mann,  the  Syndic,  Wenceslaus  Neisser  and  Count  Balthasar 
von  Pomnitz,  a  young  Silesian  noble  and  one  time  Saxon 
colonel  of  cavalry,  whose  valet  had  been  instrumental  in  his 
conversion  and  had  directed  him  to  Herrnhut  during  the  pre- 
vious year.  The  terms  of  the  concession  granted  by  the  Prus- 
sian king  distinctly  recognized  the  Moravian  Church  as  an  in- 
dependent church  with  an  episcopal  constitution,  and  granted 
its  members  liberty  of  conscience  in  Silesia,  though  a  prose- 
lyting propaganda  was  prohibited.  A  second  concession,  in 
1746,  secured  by  Abraham  von  Gersdorf,  permitted  the  recep- 
tion of  persons  who  asked  admission  to  the  Moravian  Church 
of  their  own  free  will  and  without  the  pressure  of  external  con- 
straint. At  this  juncture  moreover  the  accession  of  another 
Silesian  noble  proved  of  importance,  Ernest  Julius  von  Seidlitz, 
of  Ober  Peilau,  near  Reichenbach.  Born  in  1695,  he  had  been 
led  to  a  satisfying  knowledge  of  Christ  by  his  pastor,  Benjamin 
Linder,  and  making  the  acquaintance  of  Christian  David  in 
1727,  had  been  drawn  to  Herrnhut.  Imprisoned  on  account  of 
religion  by  the  Austrian  authorities  in  1739,  endured 
persecution  for  a  year  and  a  half,  until  Frederick  the  Great's 
invasion  set  him  free,  his  family  meanwhile  having  found  safety 
at  Herrnhut,  whither  he  himself  went  when  Frederick's  success 
was  no  longer  doubtful.  On  his  return  to  Peilau  he  had  taken 
with  him  various  brethren,  with  the  result  that  incipient  con- 
gregations had  been  gathered  by  them  at  Krausche,  Peilau  and 
Rossnitz,  Wenceslaus  Neisser,  Martin  Dober  and  Samuel  Lie- 
berkuhn  being  especially  active  in  the  work.  On  one  of  his 
estates  he  now  commenced  to  establish  a  "settlement,"  known 
as  Gnadenfrei ;  and  it  was  speedily  followed  by  the  founding  of 
Gnadenberg  near  Breslau.  The  prospects  for  extension  in 
Silesia  soon  afforded  so  much  encouragement  that  Bishop 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Muller  removed  from  Wetteravia  to  Peilau,  in  order  to  give 
his  personal  supervision  to  tiie  activity,  and  with  his  removal 
that  of  the  college  and  seminary  was  also  involved.  Martin 
Dober  estimated  that  in  1742  about  four  thousand  persons  in 
Silesia  were  in  fellowship  with  the  Brethren.  Moreover  Count 
von  Promnitz  purchased  from  Count  Gustavus  Cotter  the  do- 
main of  Neudietendorf,  near  Gotha,  in  Thuringia,  with  the  view 
to  found  a  settlement  there,  since  in  this  vicinity  there  had 
long  been  appreciative  friends,  at  Jena,  Gotha,  Erfurth,  Mein- 
ingen,  etc.  Early  in  February,  1742,  Bishop  John  Nitschmann 
had  conferred  with  the  friends  in  Jena  and  Gotha,  and  a  con- 
gregation had  been  organized  in  the  latter  town  in  July.  Hence 
the  offer  of  the  Count  was  peculiarly  opportune.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation  in  Gotha  removed  to  the  vacant  houses 
at  Neudietendorf,  and  a  memorial  was  addressed  to  the  Duke 
of  Gotha,  requesting  religious  liberty  for  the  Brethren,  en- 
dorsed by  Counts  Promnitz  and  Gotter. 

The  news  of  all  these  transactions  made  a  disagreeable  im- 
pression upon  Zinzendorf,  and  he  hastened  to  return  from 
America.  In  the  middle  of  February,  1743,  he  reached  Lon- 
don. Detained  here  for  a  month  by  a  visit  to  the  important 
center  of  operations  in  Yorkshire  and  having  his  final  inter- 
view with  John  Wesley,  he  sent  in  advance  an  indignant  protest 
against  the  assumptions  of  the  General  Conference,  and  wrote 
to  the  Duke  of  Gotha  in  order  to  interpose  before  the  conces- 
sions had  been  granted  to  Neudietendorf,  disavowing  any  part 
in  the  steps  that  had  been  taken  in  connection  with  the  found- 
ing of  this  settlement,  and  affirming  that  the  only  kind  of  set- 
tlement which  could  be  planted  there  in  fellowship  with  Herrn- 
hut  must  be  one  whose  religious  life  was  based  strictly  upon 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg.  On  the  fourth  of  April  he  met  a 
number  of  members  of  the  General  Conference  in  Amsterdam, 
and  entered  into  a  preliminary  discussion  of  their  transactions 
during  his  absence.  According  to  his  view  the  operations  of 
the  board  ought  to  have  been  confined  to  existing  enterprises. 
His  own  office  of  "general  warden,"  which  he  had  desired  to 
resign,  had  not  been  accepted  previous  to  his  departure  to 
America.  Therefore  he  should  have  been  consulted  before  any 
alteration  in  aims  had  been  avowed.  Besides  he  found  various 
of  the  undertakings  of  a  sort  likely  to  involve  in  complications, 
and  could  not  approve  of  the  manner  in  which  things  had  been 
9 


"4 


A  HISTORY  OF 


done.  Promnitz  also  met  him  in  Amsterdam,  and  although  he 
rejoiced  in  the  accession  of  the  young  and  generous  noble,  it 
seemed  to  him  inappropriate  that  negotiations  of  so  much  im- 
portance had  been  entrusted  to  one  who  was  but  a  novice  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Brethren. 

After  a  sojourn  of  some  months  in  Wetteravia,  Zinzendorf 
joined  issue  with  his  co-workers  clearly  and  distinctly  at  a 
synod  held  at  Hirschberg,  near  Ebersdorf,  from  June  30  to 
July  12,  1743.  Till,  Grasmann,  Polycarp  Miiller,  Bishop  John 
Nitschmann,  Abraham  von  Gersdorf,  Martin  Dober,  Jonas 
Paulus  Weiss,  Frederick  de  Watteville,  David  Nitschmann  the 
Syndic,  and  Hutton  were  amongst  the  most  important  of  the 
leaders  of  the  church  who  were  present.  Zinzendorf  protested 
against  the  policy  and  transactions  of  the  General  Conference 
and  declared  its  powers  abrogated.  His  co-workers  surren- 
dered unconditionally,  overcome  as  they  were  by  the  sense  of 
what  they  owed  to  him  and  by  a  realization  of  his  personal 
sacrifices.  The  place  of  the  germinant  directing  board  was 
taken  by  offices  vague  in  their  functions  and  prerogatives, 
adapted  less  to  the  churchly  phase  of  development  than  to  the 
work  of  "inner  missions ;"  devotion  to  an  independent  form  of 
ecclesiastical  activity  was  to  be  avoided,  and  Zinzendorf  was 
requested  to  effect  a  rearrangement  of  the  privileges  secured  in 
Silesia  with  a  view  to  this  change  in  policy.  Moreover,  on  the 
20th  of  the  following  November  the  leading  men  presented  to 
him  a  formal  document  clothing  him  with  unlimited  powers  of 
management  and  oversight,  as  Advocatus  ct  Ordinarius  Frat- 
rum,  that  is,  absolute  general  administrator  and  executive, 
responsible  to  no  synod  or  conference.  Thus  the  monarchial 
principle  was  allowed  to  temporarily  displace  the  conferential 
principle  characteristic  of  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren  from  the 
earHest  days.  The  church  was  now  liable  to  a  far  graver 
danger  than  had  been  avoided  by  the  abrogation  of  the  "chief 
eldership."  Nor  can  the  unfortunate  occurrences  of  the  decade 
be  wholly  disassociated  from  the  consequences  of  this  complete 
reversal  of  the  traditional  policy  of  the  church.  Pro\'identially 
so  far  as  externals  were  concerned  the  efforts  of  Zinzendorf 
to  have  the  concessions  which  had  been  secured  by  the  General 
Conference  judged  null  and  void  by  the  State  authorities  were 
overruled.  In  Berlin  Frederick  the  Great  refused  to  place  the 
Brethren  in  Silesia  under  the  surveillance  of  the  Lutheran  con- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


sistories,  nor  would  he  consent  to  make  a  new  examination  into 
their  doctrinal  status,  being  personally  indifferent  as  to  matters 
of  faith,  but  very  much  alive  to  the  advantage  of  securing  the 
industrial  advantages  hkelv  to  accrue  from  "settlements"  of  the 
Brethren  in  Silesia.  In  fact,  the  Count  was  reminded  that  he 
himself  had  already  passed  a  satisfactory  examination  before 
divines  in  Berlin,  and  a  royal  intimation  was  given  that  it  would 
be  agreeable  to  have  the  Brethren  form  an  additional  settle- 
ment in  Neusalz.  He  effected  a  reversal  of  plans  only  in  the  case 
of  Neudietendorf,  which  to  the  present  occupies  an  anomalous 
position  with  regard  to  the  appointment,  installation  and  re- 
sponsibility of  its  pastors. 

Whilst  it  is  useless  to  speculate  what  might  have  been,  had 
the  spirit  of  firmness,  characteristic  of  Herrnhut  in  January, 
1 73 1,  dominated  the  men  of  the  synod  of  Hirschberg,  it  is  of 
interest  to  note  the  numbers  of  those  who  were  reported  as  in 
close  fellowship  with  the  Brethren  at  this  time.  They  are  as 
follows:  Herrnhut,  750;  Heerendyk,  30;  Montmirail,  10;  Ma- 
rienborn,  150;  Herrnhaag,  400;  the  Ronneburg,  100;  Arbeitcr 
aus  der  Gemeine,  i.  e.,  evangelists,  700;  Lusatia,  1,700;  Saxony, 
100;  Bohemia,  300;  Silesia,  2,000;  Wetteravia,  200;  Holland, 
300;  Sweden,  100;  Wiirttemberg,  200;  Augsburg,  20;  Franconia, 
300 ;  Thuringia,  500 ;  Iceland,  i ;  Voigtland,  200 ;  Berlin,  100 ; 
Magdeburg  and  Pommerania,  300;  Holstein  and  Jutland,  500; 
St.  Petersburg,  2;  Denmark,  500;  Sweden,  520;  Livonia,  7,000; 
London,  300;  Lamb's  Inn,  100;  Yorkshire,  1,200;  Scotland,  4; 
Isle  of  Man,  i ;  Pennsylvania,  300;  Georgia,  12;  New  York,  53; 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  57;  Greenland,  20;  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  30;  Ceylon,  5;  Berbice  and  Surinam,  27;  St.  Thomas, 
300 ;  St.  Croix  and  St.  John,  3  ;  North  America,  45  ;  total,  20,974. 

But  the  unlimited  and  unquestioned  sway  of  one  man  was 
of  even  more  significance  from  the  fact  that  the  influence  of 
Zinzendorf's  personality  and  individual  temperament  now  in- 
evitably left  its  impress  upon  the  inner  hfe  and  spirit  of  the 
Unity,  at  times  even  swaying  and  carrying  away  the  more  inde- 
pendent thinkers.  This  is  of  importance  because  the  external 
conflict  of  conceptions  before  described  had  its  counterpart  in 
the  inner  life  of  the  church.  The  old  Moravian  element  and 
the  Pietistic  element  had  already  displayed  marked  and  most 
important  divergencies ;  and  now  the  ultra  Pietistic  element 
was  temporarily  to  become  dominant  in  a  hurtful  fashion.  In 


ii6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Wetteravia  in  particular  the  theological  concept  of  the  true 
humanity  as  well  as  the  true  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  was  coming 
to  the  forefront,  fostered  especially  by  John  de  Watteville. 
Laying  hold  of  some  of  the  bold  figures  of  speech  characteristic 
of  Zinzendorf's  terminology,  and  combining  these  with  the  fun- 
damental conception  of  the  meritorious  effects  of  the  Hfe  of 
Christ  for  the  body  and  soul  of  men,  the  thought  of  His  example 
and  of  His  having  passed  from  infancy  to  mature  manhood 
was  brought  to  bear  with  modifying  efifect  upon  the  "bands"  or 
"classes"  which  had  existed  since  1727,  and  new  regulations  for 
the  "choirs"  were  adopted.  The  latter  flourished  especially  in 
Wetteravia,  and  were  introduced  into  Herrnhut  during  a  visit 
of  Langguth  from  February  28,  1741,  to  August,  1742.  Whereas 
the  motto  of  the  Moravians  in  Herrnhut  had  been  Strcitcrschaft 
fiir  den  Herni,  and  warriorship  and  the  "witness  spirit"  the 
governing  traits,  now  the  ideal  was  to  be  an  imitator  of  the 
God-man  in  the  pure  manhood  of  His  soul  and  body,  and  to  be 
receptive  of  the  mysterious  efficacy  of  His  chaste  purity ;  in  the 
"choirs"  of  young  men  and  women  much  was  made  of  an  ab- 
sence of  personal  will  as  to  one's  future  condition  of  life  whether 
as  a  celibate  or  as  a  head  of  a  family,  leaving  that  to  the  lead- 
ing of  the  Lord;  and  thus  it  was  that  the  use  of  the  lot  in  con- 
nection with  marriages  became  general. 

Now  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  conditions  of  the  mental 
environment  of  Wetteravia  were  such  that  any  departure  in  the 
direction  of  sentimentalism  carried  with  it  elements  of  danger. 
Pseudo  Pietism  had  many  representatives  in  the  vicinity  of 
Frankfort.  Mysticism  and  sectarian  fanaticism  had  attached 
to  themselves  many  devotees.  The  followers  of  Rock,  Hoch- 
mann  and  Dippel  and  kindred  souls  had  given  the  Pietism  of 
western  Germany  a  questionable  tinge.  The  Berleburg  Bible 
had  accustomed  many  devout  minds,  possessed  of  religiousness 
rather  than  discrimination,  to  find  mystical  suggestions  in  all 
manner  of  descriptive  or  narrative  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
In  Switzerland  devout  but  injudicious  Lutz  was  revealing  the 
sickly  emotional  features  of  exaggerated  Pietism  in  "flowery 
and  not  always  tasteful  language."  The  Brugglers  were  indulg- 
ing in  prophecies.  Oettinger,  the  "Magus  of  the  South,"  once 
Zinzendorf's  instructor  for  a  brief  time  at  Herrnhut,  from  excess 
of  zeal  against  the  rationalistic  tendency  was  erring  in  the  oppo- 
site direction,  sinking  into  theosophy  in  his  endeavor  to  com- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


117 


bine  natural  and  spiritual  things,  and  aiming  to  present  spiritual 
truths  in  a  concrete,  vivid,  sensuous  fashion.  Literature, 
French  and  German  alike,  smacked  of  the  sentimental  with  a 
touch  of  bombast.  Pietistic  poetry  in  general  inclined  to  the 
painting  of  sensuous  pictures,  and  a  dallying  with  the  Saviour, 
and  the  habitual  use  of  endearing  diminutives,  such  as  '"little 
dove,"  "little  sheep,"  "little  lamb,"  etc.  With  the  accession  of 
considerable  numbers  of  Pietists  from  Frankfort  and  Jena  and 
their  vicinity,  the  mode  of  thought  in  vogue  in  Wetteravia 
in  connection  with  the  drift  of  the  age  therefore  involved 
ominous  features,  especially  since  Zinzendorf  was  a  man  of  im- 
pulse and  feeling,  rather  than  a  logically  systematic  theologian. 
In  point  of  fact  time  was  soon  to  demonstrate  that  the  Mora- 
vian Church  was  as  little  able  to  disregard  the  general  current 
of  thought  around  it  as  any  other  division  of  Christendom,  and 
that  it  must  suffer  from  drifting  too  near  the  danger  point.  The 
most  wonderful  feature  of  its  experience  was  its  rapid  and  com- 
plete return  to  Scriptural  sobriety. 

After  the  synod  of  Hirschberg  a  brief  period  of  residence  in 
Berlin  followed,  during  which  Zinzendorf  entered  into  his  un- 
successful negotiations  with  the  Prussian  authorities  for  the 
revocation  of  the  concessions.  Then  came  a  visit  to  Count 
Promnitz  at  his  castle  of  Burau,  in  Silesia,  and  an  inspection  of 
the  beginnings  of  Gnadenfrei,  near  Peilau,  and  Gnadenberg, 
near  Gross  Krausche,  and  also  of  Neusalz  and  Niesky — the  visit 
in  addition  giving  an  opportunity  for  interviews  with  the  leaders 
of  affairs  at  Herrnhut,  whither  the  decree  of  banishment  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  go  as  yet.  To  Burau  where  these  con- 
ferences were  held,  came  also  John  Michael  Langguth  and 
Spangenberg,  to  consult  about  the  procedure  to  America  of 
the  "Second  Sea  Congregation"  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-three 
persons.  The  consecration  of  Frederick  de  Watteville  and  of 
John  de  Watteville  as  bishops  also  took  place  during  this  period, 
the  former  at  Burau,  the  latter  in  the  castle  at  Peilau. 

Then  came  a  boldly  conceived  and  resolutely  attempted  jour- 
ney to  Russia,  with  a  few  companions,  one  of  whom  was  his  own 
youthful  son,  Christian  Renatus. 

Various  circumstances  impelled  the  Count  to  take  this  step. 
Three  Brethren,  Conrad  Lange,  Zatharias  Hirschel  and  Michael 
Kund,  who  had  been  dispatched  as  missionaries  to  Mongolia, 
via  the  Russian  Empire,  had  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  at 


ii8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


St.  Petersburg.  Nor  were  they  destined  to  obtain  freedom 
tintil  1747.  ^iloreover,  Arvid  Gradin,  who  had  been  sent  in 
June  to  lay  before  the  Holy  Synod  a  letter  setting  forth  the 
affairs  of  the  Unity  and  its  relationship  to  the  Greek  Church, 
had  received  the  same  treatment.  In  addition  to  this,  the  ex- 
tensive evangelistic  and  educational  activity  of  the  Brethren  in 
Livonia  had  been  developing  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  friction 
since  Zinzendorf's  visit  to  that  country  in  1736.  The  institute 
at  Wolmar  for  the  training  of  catechists,  of  which  Lady  von 
Hallart  was  patroness,  had  assumed  large  proportions.  Its 
students  were  now  about  seventy  in  number.  The  evangeHsts 
had  acquired  a  mastery  of  the  Lettish  language,  and  were 
reaching  masses  of  people.  An  extensive  revival  of  religion 
amongst  the  peasantry  had  resulted.  Coupled  with  it  was  a 
not  unnatural  effort  to  introduce  the  characteristic  discipline 
of  the  Moravian  Church,  a  measure  welcomed,  moreover,  by 
some  of  the  Lutheran  clergymen,  though  it  was  contrary  to 
the  instructions  of  Zinzendorf  as  conflicting  with  his  conception 
of  the  service  which  the  evangelists  were  to  render.  And  it 
had  aroused  others  of  the  clergy  to  enter  complaints  against 
the  Brethren  as  a  dangerous  sect,  and  request  the  interference 
of  the  civil  authorities.  To  this  form  of  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  Moravians  the  Count  now  wished  to  put  a  stop. 

Arriving  at  Riga,  he  desired  a  pass  to  St.  Petersburg,  in  order 
to  proceed  thither  and  lay  before  the  Empress  Elizabeth  in  per- 
son the  affairs  of  the  Brethren.  But  the  Governor,  Field  Mar- 
shall Count  Laski,  instead  lodged  him  and  his  companions  in 
the  citadel,  on  December  23,  and  confiscated  his  books  and 
papers — an  act  which  he  indeed  afterwards  recognized  as  a  real 
kindness,  being  meant  to  save  him  from  the  worse  treatment 
sure  to  be  meted  out  at  the  capital  in  case  he  should  have 
passed  onwards.  The  appeal  for  an  investigation  now  ad- 
dressed to  her  majesty  brought  for  a  reply  an  order  to  quit 
Russian  territory  forthwith.  Under  an  escort  of  soldiers  he 
was  shown  the  way  to  the  Prussian  frontier,  leaving  the  citadel 
on  January  12,  1744. 

Another  sojourn  in  Silesia  now  followed.  On  the  way  thither 
the  news  of  the  death  of  Count  Pronmitz  from  small-pox,  at 
Erbach  in  Franconia,  reached  him,  an  event  which  temporarily 
interfered  with  the  building  of  Gnadenfrei  and  Neudietendorf. 
Despite  the  danger  thereby  incurred,  furtive  visits  were  twice 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


119 


made  to  Herrnhut,  and  on  April  22  he  set  out  for  Wetteravia, 
where  he  arrived  on  May  i.  For  a  season  the  center  of  the 
Unity  was  to  be  here,  and  the  spirit  of  the  twin  congregations 
of  Herrnhaag  and  Marienborn,  in  distinction  from  that  of  the 
Saxon  mother  congregation,  shovild  be  temporarily  dominant. 

At  the  former  place  eight  hides  of  land  had  been  bought  for 
about  $6,000  in  1738,  and  soon  a  brethren's-house  and  a  sisters'- 
house  had  been  erected,  the  means  for  building  first  having  been 
furnished  by  John  de  Watteville.  Next  year  the  theological 
seminary  was  located  here.  In  1740  the  first  place  of  worship 
and  an  orphanage  had  been  completed,  and  a  school  for  girls 
soon  followed.  In  1743  a  new  contract  had  been  drawn  up 
with  the  ruling  family,  whereby  the  estates  of  Lenstadt  and 
Dilsheim  were  leased  for  thirty-three  years  for  upwards  of 
$75,000.  A  new  piace  of  worship  had  recently  been  commenced 
and  also  a  residence  for  the  Count,  known  as  the  Lichtenberg. 
At  the  foot  of  a  hill  crowned  by  the  old  castle  of  the  Ronneburg, 
there  clustered  close  together  about  a  central  square  the  well- 
built,  substantial  houses  of  the  architectural  type  which  charac- 
terized Moravian  masonry  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Carefully  tilled  fields  and  a  park-Hke  garden,  designed 
after  the  vogue  of  the  old  regime  in  France,  and  the  unique 
Moravian  Gottesackcr  lay  between  the  town  and  the  meadows 
of  neighboring  estates. 

Two  hours'  walk  southwest  from  Biidingen,  and  near  the 
frontier  of  Cassel,  in  a  pleasant  valley  bordered  by  wooded  hills, 
lay  Marienborn,  once  the  seat  of  a  Cistercian  nunnery,  but  since 
the  year  1588  the  site  of  a  stately  castle.  Here  schools  for  the 
education  of  the  children  of  the  church  had  been  founded. 
Since  1742  the  castle  and  the  estate  together  with  the  domain 
of  Eckartshaus  had  been  leased  for  thirty  years,  and  next  year 
the  SchlosskapcUe  had  similarly  come  into  the  possession  of  the 
Brethren.  At  Marienborn,  where  the  Count  now  made  his 
home,  for  a  time  reunited  to  his  family,  and  having  many  of  the 
most  prominent  servants  of  the  church  about  him,  a  synod  had 
been  summoned  to  meet  on  May  15.  Such  an  influx  of  tem- 
porary residents  resulted  that  it  was  deemed  wise  to  remove 
the  students,  noteworthy  amongst  whom  were  John  Frederick 
Cammerhof,  Theophilus  Schumann,  David  Cranz,  John  Adam 
Schmidt  and  Ernest  Lewis  Schlicht,  to  the  neighboring  castle 
of  Lindheim,  the  home  of  the  Von  Schrautenbach  family,  now 


120 


A  HISTORY  OF 


residents  of  Herrnhut,  their  son  Louis,  Zinzendorf's  future 
biographer,  being  an  inmate  of  the  seminary. 

It  was  the  period  of  ]\Iarienborn's  prosperity.  The  eloquent 
Albert  Anthony  Vierorth,  erstwhile  cathedral  preacher  at 
Reval,  whence  he  had  been  dismissed  in  consequence  of  the 
rescript  of  December  12,  1743,  was  about  to  become  chaplain  at 
the  castle.  Bishop  Miiller  was  presiding  over  the  seminary  and 
the  publication  house.  All  was  being  carried  on  upon  an  en- 
thusiastic and  dashing  scale.  Two  purposes  predominated,  the 
desire  to  avoid  sectarian  proselytism,  but  to  serve  as  a  link  of 
union  for  true  believers  of  various  confessional  schools,  and  to 
shun  a  mere  intellectual  and  dead  adhesion  to  the  formulated 
standards  of  Christian  doctrine.  The  joy  of  consecrated  re- 
ligious life  became  an  uppermost  thought.  To  be  a  sinner 
saved  by  grace  should  be  counted  a  soul-stirring  privilege. 
Something  of  a  disdain  of  the  strict  Moravian  discipline  also 
entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  day.  This  savored  too  much  of 
legalism,  it  was  thought.  Hence  the  judicious  statutes  and 
regulations  promotive  of  sober  godliness  at  Herrnhut  since 
May  12,  1727,  had  never  been  introduced  in  Wetteravia.  Sin- 
ners conscious  of  their  justification  in  Christ  had  no  need  of 
these  artificial  restraints. 

But  with  it  all  there  was  something  unsound  in  the  tendencies 
of  the  place  and  times,  though  the  men  and  women  excelled  in 
unfeigned  sincerity  of  devotion,  unquestioned  purity  of  purpose, 
amazing  zeal  and  honest  diligence  of  life.  In  the  first  place, 
the  financial  basis  of  operations  was  questionable,  from  the 
standpoint  of  safety.  Most  of  the  Wetteravian  lands  were  held 
only  on  a  limited  lease,  and  the  valuable  improvements  placed 
upon  them  might  be  alienated  without  remedy — as  occurred  in 
the  event.  Too  much  depended  upon  the  good  faith  and  favor 
of  the  Counts  of  Biidingen.  Moreover,  the  establishments  here 
and  elsewhere  and  the  spread  of  the  missionary  enterprises  were 
costing  vast  sums,  exceeding  the  resources  of  the  Count,  who 
was  on  principle  opposed  to  laying  fixed  assessments  upon  or 
asking  stated  contributions  from  members  of  the  church. 
Dutch  friends  like  Beuning,  Schellinger  and  Decknatel  were 
unwisely  kind  with  their  moneyed  assistance,  and  thus  helped 
to  swell  the  credit  system.  The  first  mentioned  was  already 
a  creditor  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  $150,000.  And  the 
revenues  from  these  estates  were  in  proportion  inconsiderable. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


121 


A  change  had  also  taken  place  in  Zinzendorf  himself.  The 
flood  of  controversial  tractates  directed  against  him  and  his 
endeavors  had  not  been  without  effect ;  the  continued  success 
of  his  enterprises  in  spite  of  bitterest  opposition  had  tended  to 
cause  him  to  estimate  the  criticism  at  possibly  less  than  its 
worth,  and  to  fail  to  fully  learn  from  it  those  lessons  of  self- 
restraint  and  self-discipline,  which  a  wise  man  seeks  to  learn 
from  the  judgment  of  adversaries.  His  experiences  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  at  Hirschberg  seem  to  have  rendered  him  apt  to 
pay  less  attention  than  formerly  to  the  adverse  opinions  of 
others.  A  fondness  for  solitary  meditation  increased.  He  be- 
came a  man  living  more  by  himself,  more  self-contained,  more 
reserved,  less  approachable,  and  having  intercourse  with  his 
coadjutors  as  a  rule  chiefly  in  formal  conferences,  associating 
himself  with  younger  men,  with  the  natural  result  that  they 
deferred  to  his  judgment  or  at  least  hesitated  to  speak  to  him 
as  freely  as  men  of  his  own  age  might  have  spoken.  In  conse- 
quence, things  might  transpire  about  him,  concerning  which  he 
liad  not  the  intimate  acquaintance  which  characterized  his  resi- 
dence at  Herrnhut  in  1727. 

During  the  synod  of  Marienborn,  from  May  12  to  June  15, 
and  succeeding  gatherings  which  followed  in  quick  succession, 
Zinzendorf  developed  his  idea  of  the  so-called  Tropcn,  a  term 
derived  from  the  Greek  rpd-rroi  -rrudda^  — methods  of  training. 
It  was  this  conception,  in  a  more  or  less  nebulous  form, 
perhaps,  that  had  been  underlying  his  efforts  at  church  union 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  his  unwilHngness  to  see  the  denominational 
ecclesiasticism  of  the  Moravians  advanced  in  Europe.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  evangelical  churches  were  essentially  one,  and 
that  in  each  of  the  Christian  churches,  even  the  ultra-montane 
Roman  Cathohc  and  the  Galilean,  there  reposed  a  peculiar  gift 
for  training  souls  according  to  its  own  special  method.  Hence 
there  is  a  Lutheran,  a  Reformed  and  a  Moravian  "trope,"  in 
the  Unity  of  the  Brethren,  according  to  which  souls  are  edu- 
cated for  eternity  in  conformity  with  the  peculiar  tendencies  of 
each  church.  In  itself  alone  no  one  church  has  the  exclusively 
correct  method ;  that  which  is  eternally  true  and  absolutely  cor- 
rect is  the  Original  Religion  des  Heilands.  This  is  taken  up 
in  differently  modified  types  by  the  different  churches.  Within 
the  Unity  of  the  Brethren  there  is  room  for  the  various 
"tropes,"  each  of  which  is  to  have  its  recognized  leader  as  such 


122 


A  HISTORY  OF 


(later  he  wished  to  distinguish  even  a  Methodist  "trope");  and 
therefore  it  seemed  to  him  desirable  to  discourage  the  use  of 
the  epithet  "Moravian"  as  appUed  to  the  whole  Unity. 

After  this  synod  Zinzendorf  proceeded  to  Holland,  partly  on 
mission  business  connected  with  Schmidt's  return  from  Africa, 
and  partly  with  a  view  to  the  founding  and  development  of  a 
settlement-congregation  at  Zeist. 

During  the  administration  of  affairs  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence, whilst  the  Count  was  absent  in  America,  Baron  Abraham 
von  Gersdorf  had  endeavored  to  secure  from  the  States  General 
liberty  of  operations  in  Holland  for  the  Brethren ;  and  from 
February  to  April,  1742,  Amsterdam  had  been  the  seat  of  the 
Conference.  At  the  synod  of  Hirschberg  Zinzendorf  had  re- 
ported that  a  barony  in  the  Province  of  Ysselstein  belonging 
to  Count  Nassau,  a  son  of  King  William  HI,  was  for  sale  for 
200,000  florins.  The  purchase  was  promoted  by  wealthy  friends 
of  the  Brethren  in  Holland,  the  Schellingers,  Matthias  Beuning, 
Cornelius  van  Laer  and  Jan  Verbeek  in  particular.  It  included 
a  castle,  which  had  been  a  residence  of  Louis  XIV  of  France  in 
1672,  together  with  the  adjoining  village,  beautified  by  noble 
avenues  of  beech  trees.  In  1745  Frederick  Wenceslaus  Neisser 
had  been  sent  to  take  charge  and  prepare  for  the  reception  of 
the  Count  and  his  coadjutors.  Hither  they  came  in  April,  1746; 
and  hither  came  also  Count  Henry  29th  Reuss  from  Ebers- 
dorf,  with  Magister  Steinhofer,  to  arrange  for  a  closer  union 
of  Ebersdorf  with  the  Brethren — finally  consummated  in  De- 
cember. Special  attention  was  paid  to  missionary  business 
at  the  ensuing  Synod  held  in  the  castle  in  May,  and  amongst 
the  rest  it  was  determined  to  have  a  ship  built  for  the  use  of 
the  church,  manned  and  officered  by  members,  to  be  employed 
in  connection  with  missionary  undertakings  and  for  the  trans- 
portation of  Moravian  colonists.  In  the  event  the  snow  Irene 
was  acquired,  having  Captain  Garrison  as  commander,  and 
Cook  as  first  mate,  with  seven  of  the  Brethren  as  sailors.  The 
business  of  the  synod  also  included  a  consideration  of  the  va- 
rious orders  of  the  ministry ;  and  the  subordinate  orders  of 
acolytes  and  deaconesses  and  sundry  offices,  like  that  of  Senior 
Civilis,  which  had  obtained  in  the  Unitas  Fratrum  were  rein- 
troduced, though  the  essential  functions  of  their  incumbents 
were  not  entirely  the  same  as  in  the  olden  time. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


123 


After  the  synod  of  Zeist  the  rapid  development  of  the  work 
of  the  Brethren  in  England  rendered  it  desirable  to  prepare  the 
way  for  some  authoritative  definition  of  the  relationship  of  their 
movement  to  the  Established  Church.  Hence  the  Count 
crossed  the  channel  with  a  number  of  his  chief  associates  and 
held  several  conferences  in  London  with  prominent  represen- 
tatives of  the  British  activity.  Opportunity  was  besides 
aflforded  for  conversation  with  Governor  Thomas  Penn  with 
regard  to  various  matters  of  importance  relating  to  the  settle- 
ments in  the  colony  under  his  jurisdiction.  Returning  by  way 
of  Holland,  in  November,  after  a  visit  to  Ebersdorf,  the  Count 
early  in  the  year  1747  took  possession  of  the  house  newly 
erected  for  him  at  Herrnhaag.  He  was  not,  however,  to  re- 
main here  permanently. 

The  steady  advance  in  external  prosperity  which  attended 
the  thrift  and  industry  of  Herrnhut,  the  enviable  reputation 
which  its  people  had  acqviired  for  morality  and  good  citizenship, 
the  fame  of  the  rapidly  developing  establishments  in  Wetteravia, 
and  the  idea  that  Zinzendorf's  influence  could  command  the  use 
of  large  financial  means,  had  all  been  conspiring  to  gradually 
moderate  the  hostility  of  the  Saxon  government.  Policy  dic- 
tated a  qualifying  of  the  adverse  opinion  hitherto  held  with  re- 
spect to  the  operations  of  the  exiled  nobleman,  whose  philan- 
thropy assumed  a  different  aspect  in  the  eyes  of  statesmen 
now  that  it  seemed  to  be  productive  of  valuable  industries  and 
desirable  resources.  The  king  himself  was  more  leniently  dis- 
posed, since  he  had  recently  passed  through  Herrnhut  and  had 
personally  made  himself  acquainted  with  its  af¥airs.  At  a  time, 
therefore,  when  the  general  public  had  little  expectation  of  such 
a  thing,  intimation  was  given  to  the  Count  that  he  might  revisit 
Saxony.  Of  this  permission  he  was  quick  to  avail  himself,  and 
arrived  at  Herrnhut  on  September  16,  1747.  An  interview  with 
Count  Hennicke,  the  Saxon  minister  in  Leipzig,  followed  next 
month,  which  resulted  in  his  majesty's  sending  the  exiled  Count 
an  autographic  revocation  of  the  edict  of  banishment.  Next 
summer  a  new  commission,  appointed  by  royal  authority,  con- 
sisting of  eight  members,  five  laymen  and  three  clergymen,  came 
to  Elerrnhut.  The  doctrines,  the  discipline,  the  episcopate  and 
the  civico-religious  regulations  of  the  Brethren,  as  well  as  their 
relationship  to  the  evangelical  church  were  scrutinized  very 
searchingly  in  the  course  of  an  investigation  that  lasted  from 


124 


A  HISTORY  OF 


July  29  to  August  12.  The  consequences  were  most  favor- 
able. As  a  first  result,  the  government  of  Saxony  desired  to 
lease  to  the  Brethren  the  castle  and  royal  estate  of  Barby,  on 
the  Elbe,  a  proposal  which  was  accepted,  and  in  November  of 
this  same  year  the  theological  seminary  was  removed  thither. 
As  a  second  result,  a  royal  decree  in  September,  1749,  granted 
the  Brethren  full  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship  and 
ritual  in  Upper  Lusatia  and  on  the  estate  of  Barby  in  recogni- 
tion of  their  substantial  adherence  to  the  tenets  of  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg. 

Before  the  completion  of  these  negotiations,  important  trans- 
actions of  a  similar  nature  had  been  in  process  in  London,  in 
connection  with  the  determination  of  the  status  of  the  Mora- 
vians in  Britain  and  its  colonies.  Hence  after  a  brief  visit  to 
Wetteravia,  Zinzendorf  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  1748, 
proceeded  to  Holland  whence  he  made  his  way  to  England, 
landing  at  Harwich  on  January  i. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  these  indications  of  external  prosperity, 
and  especially  since  September,  1745,  the  Wetteravian  spirit  had 
been  manifesting  itself  within  the  church  in  a  most  unfortunate 
manner,  and  was  about  to  bear  most  unfortunate  fruits,  none 
being  more  distressed  than  Zinzendorf  himself  when  the  culmi- 
nation was  reached.  "It  seemed  as  though  the  church  had 
gone  to  sleep  and  was  dreaming  a  bad  dream."  The  defama- 
tory pamphlets  which  continued  to  be  directed  against  him  had 
excited  in  him  a  scorn  of  his  opponents,  and  he  gave  less  con- 
cern than  ever  whether  or  not  he  shocked  men  by  paradoxical 
statements  and  mystic  ideas.  Moreover,  his  intellectual  dispo- 
sition was  such  that  when  a  figure  of  speech  captivated  him,  he 
had  a  tendency  to  carry  it  to  extremes,  and  build  about  a  meta- 
phor a  system  of  theology.  These  conceptions  he  embodied  in 
hymns  and  liturgies,  especially  with  reference  to  the  concept  of 
the  Trinity.  The  sober  doctrine  of  the  atonement  which  had 
hitherto  prevailed,  was  distorted  by  a  sentimental  and  extrava- 
gant emphasizing  of  the  physical  wounds  of  Christ.  The  "choir 
system"  was  e.xaggerated  and  the  protests  of  men  of  the  old 
Moravian  stamp,  whose  exaltation  of  the  churchly  conception 
of  discipline  the  adherents  of  the  newer  ideas  termed  Pharisaic, 
were  of  no  avail.  Moreover,  Pietistic  enthusiasts  who  had 
flocked  to  Herrnhaag  and  Marienborn  from  the  vicinity  of 
Frankfort  and  others  from  Livonia,  coming  as  they  did  wth  a 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


125 


predilection  for  morbid  sentimentalism,  carried  the  conceptions 
germinal  in  these  paradoxical  utterances  of  the  Count  to  ex- 
tremes of  which  he  in  his  absence  from  western  Germany  had 
little  or  no  knowledge.  Naturally  the  friendship  of  some  half 
admirers  was  now  alienated,  and  weapons  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  antagonists  of  the  Brethren.  Tubingen  withdrew 
its  favor.  Bengel  declared  that  this  was  no  longer  the  old 
Moravian  Church.  Drs.  Hofmann,  Froreisen,  Benner,  Volk 
and  especially  Fresenius  found  profitable  material  for  hostile 
tracts  and  volumes.  But  finally,  early  in  1749,  Zinzendorf's  eyes 
were  opened  by  some  of  his  coadjutors.  Christian  David,  Stein- 
hofer,  Godfrey  Clemens,  Molther,  Spangenberg,  and  the  Neis- 
sers  had  been  repeatdly  raising  voices  of  opposition  and  warn- 
ing. When  the  Count  really  understood  the  character  and  ex- 
tent of  the  fanaticism,  his  indignation  was  great.  He  blamed 
his  own  son,  Christian  Renatus,  most  severely,  and  summoned 
him  to  England. 

In  February,  1749,  Zinzendorf  wrote  a  letter  to  the  erring 
churches,  in  which  he  sternly  pointed  out  the  sinfulness  of  the 
excesses  into  which  they  had  been  betrayed,  and  furthermore 
sent  his  son-in-law,  John  de  Watteville,  to  visit  these  churches, 
and  to  put  a  stop  to  everything  anti-scriptural.  The  most  im- 
portant point  in  connection  with  the  whole  case  is  the  absolute 
return  of  the  Brethren  to  simplicity  and  a  scriptural  form  of 
thought.  No  other  church  has  passed  throvigh  an  experience 
parallel  to  this.  It  has  well  been  said,  "Such  fanaticism  followed 
by  so  complete  a  victory,  shows  how  firmly  and  fully  the  church 
was  founded  on  the  Rock  of  Ages." 

Nothing  tended  so  much  to  sober  the  minds  of  the  Brethren 
as  the  troubles  which  broke  out  in  Wetteravia  about  this  time. 
The  government  became  unfriendly  to  them.  In  October,  1749, 
on  the  death  of  Count  Casimir  of  Biidingen,  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor Gustav  Friedrich,  a  royal  chamberlain  at  Copenhagen, 
under  the  inflvience  of  his  agent,  Councillor  Brauer,  sought  to 
take  advantage  of  the  inhabitants  of  Marienborn  and  Herrn- 
haag,  in  connection  with  the  necessity  for  the  renewal  of  the 
lease  of  the  former  place  and  the  taking  of  the  oath  of  allegiance 
on  the  part  of  the  people  of  both  settlements.  Ignoring  the  fa- 
vorable terms  of  the  contract  entered  into  in  1743,  which  was 
to  have  run  for  thirty  years,  Brauer  skilfully  planned  the  terms 
so  that  if  necessary  they  might  be  exiled  on  the  alleged  ground 


126 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  disloyalty  in  temporal  matters,  and  thus  the  appearance  of 
religious  persecution  be  avoided.  Amongst  the  rest  he  required 
them  to  abjure  all  subordination  to  Zinzendorf  and  the  other 
leaders  of  their  church,  with  the  purpose  of  diverting  them  to 
one  of  the  recognized  confessional  churches.  To  this  they  ob- 
jected. Then  they  were  told  that  they  would  have  to  emigrate 
within  three  years  and  abandon  their  homes  and  improvements, 
if  they  remained  obstinate.  This  was  a  mere  threat.  The  au- 
thorties  of  Biidingen  never  thought  it  possible  that  they  would 
actually  relinquish  two  such  flourishing  towns  as  Marienborn 
and  Herrnhaag,  built  by  their  own  labor  and  at  their  own  ex- 
pense. 

But  after  appealing  in  vain  to  the  terms  of  the  contract  of 
1743,  they  decided  to  a  man  to  do  this  very  thing  rather  than 
give  up  their  church — and  this  heroism  ought  not  to  be  for- 
gotten by  any  who  would  indulge  in  a  cheap  sneer  at  their  pre- 
vious temporary  excesses  of  religious  sentimentalism.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  these  were  the  men  who  were  will- 
ing to  go  at  short  notice  to  the  four  corners  of  the  world  to 
herald  Christ.  Every  continent  except  Australia  was  a  mis- 
sion field  for  them,  at  a  time  before  ever  a  Carey  was  known. 
Theirs  was  a  manifestation  of  that  same  spirit  of  fidelity,  which 
shone  out  in  the  old  days  of  exile  during  the  Counter-Reforma- 
tion, in  the  voyage  of  the  Puritan  Pilgrim  Fathers,  in  the  exo- 
dus from  France  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in 
the  emigration  of  the  Salzburger  and  the  flight  from  the  Kuhlan- 
del  to  Herrnhut.  It  fully  atoned  for  previous  aberrations.  Let 
those  who  would  laugh  at  them,  first  earn  the  right  to  do  so  by 
manifesting  a  spirit  of  equal  devotion  to  Christ. 

In  1750  the  emigration  began,  and  in  three  years  the  Wettera- 
vian  settlements  were  deserted,  save  that  a  handful  of  workers 
remained  at  Marienborn  to  maintain  a  Diaspora  activity  until 
1773.  Nearly  three  thousand  members  of  the  church  had  lived 
there.  Many  came  to  America ;  some  went  to  Barby,  others  to 
Zeist,  and  others — a  contingent  of  French-speaking  Brethren 
originally  from  Switzerland — to  the  recently  commenced  settle- 
ment at  Neuwied  on  the  Rhine.  The  harsh  measure  of  tyran- 
nous oppression  naturally  entailed  heavy  financial  losses  upon 
the  Moravian  Church — and  proved  a  piece  of  utterly  foolish 
statesmanship  as  far  as  the  Counts  of  Biidingen  were  con- 
cerned ;  but  it  administered  a  most  excellent  tonic  of  providential 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


127 


discipline  to  the  Brethren  themselves,  and  revived  the  manly 
spirit  so  characteristic  of  the  refugees  of  1722-1727.  More- 
over, the  dross  of  fanaticism  was  completely  sublimated  and 
eliminated  by  this  fire  of  persecution.  The  complete  disap- 
pearance of  the  extravagances  of  the  "Time  of  Sifting,"  with 
the  suppression  of  hymnals  and  liturgies  which  had  been  in- 
strumental in  promoting  it,  followed  as  a  fortunate  consequence. 


128 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


PROGRESS  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN,  TO  THE  RECOGNITION  BY  ACT  OF 

PARLIAMENT. 

Although  the  establishment  of  the  congregation  in  Fetter 
Lane  in  London,  by  Spangenberg,  in  November,  1742,  marked 
the  formal  inception  of  the  work  of  the  Moravian  Church  in 
Great  Britain,  the  evangelistic  activity  of  various  men  during 
previous  years,  at  first  quite  distinct  but  then  more  or  less  iden- 
tified with  the  Moravian  movement,  must  be  regarded  as  inter- 
linked with  the  efforts  of  the  Brethren.  Prominent  amongst 
those  who  thus  consciously  or  unconsciously  prepared  the  way 
for  the  Moravians  were  Benjamin  Ingham  and  John  Cennick. 
The  former  remained  within  the  communion  of  the  Established 
Church,  but  throughout  his  life  served  his  various  parishes  in 
a  spirit  kindred  to  that  which  animated  the  friends  with  whom 
at  one  time  he  came  into  a  very  close  touch.  The  great  life- 
work  of  the  latter  was  performed  by  commission  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  itself. 

Cennick  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  of  Bohemian  ex- 
traction, the  family  name  having  been  originally  Kunik,  pos- 
sibly one  of  the  numerous  families  of  refugees  that  found  asylum 
in  England  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  the  White  Mountain. 
Certain  it  is  that  his  grandfather,  a  clothier,  had  espoused  the 
faith  of  Fox,  and  had  suffered  imprisonment  for  religion's  sake. 
The  future  evangelist  was  born  at  Reading  in  1718.  Deeply 
convicted  of  sin  whilst  in  London  at  Easter,  1735,  he  found 
peace  in  September,  1737.  A  perusal  of  Whitefield's  Journal  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  following  year  drew  him  to  seek  associa- 
tion with  men  of  his  stamp.  Undeterred  by  the  ordinary  re- 
quirements of  etiquette,  he  hunted  out  the  ardent  seeker  for 
souls  whom  he  had  admired  at  a  distance,  and  soon  after  his 
kindly  reception  by  him  made  the  acquaintance  also  of  the 
Wesleys  and  Hutchins.    In  June,  1739,  Whitefield's  offer  of  a 


JOHN  CENNICK. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


129 


position  as  school-master  for  the  children  of  colliers  at  Kings- 
wood  was  gladly  accepted.  Here  it  was  that  Cennick  first  at- 
tempted to  preach,  addressing  a  gathering  of  from  four  to  five 
hundred  colliers  under  a  sycamore  tree.  In  these  zealous 
efforts  Wesley  gave  him  special  encouragement,  perceiving  his 
native  endowments  and  zeal.  About  Christmas,  1740,  Cennick, 
however,  separated  from  the  Wesleys,  and  itinerated  more  or 
less  independently  in  Wiltshire,  or  in  company  with  Harris.  In 
1 741  Whitefieid  gave  him  charge  of  his  society  in  Moorfields, 
London,  and  again  there  followed  a  period  of  itineracy  in  the 
southwest  of  England.  In  June  of  the  next  year  he  sought  the 
fellowship  of  the  Brethren  at  Fetter  Lane,  and  in  1745  finally 
became  fully  identified  with  them.  His  labors  in  Somerset  and 
Wiltshire  had  been  truly  apostolic.  Through  visits  of  Tolt- 
schig,  Bohler  and  Spangenberg  the  societies  formed  in  Bristol 
and  at  Kingswood  and  Tytherton  were  developed  into  congre- 
gations of  the  Moravian  Church.  That  his  itineracy  had  been 
no  child's  play,  so  degraded  was  the  state  of  morals  and  religion 
in  the  rural  districts,  is  evident  from  his  description  of  what 
Harris  and  he  experienced  in  Jime,  1741.    His  diary  reads  thus : 

"Went  with  Rev.  Howell  Harris  to  Swindon,  and  the  Vale 
of  the  White  Horse.  A  large  company  assembled  in  the  grove. 
We  sang  and  prayed,  but  were  hindered  from  preaching  by  a 
mob,  who  made  a  noise,  played  instruments  among  the  people 
and  fired  guns  so  near  our  faces  that  ]\Ir.  Harris  and  myself 
were  black  with  the  powder.  We  were  not  afifrighted,  but 
opened  our  breasts  and  said,  'We  are  ready  to  lay  down  our 
lives  for  the  gospel,  and  would  not  resist  if  the  guns  were  leveled 
at  our  hearts.'  They  flung  dust  from  the  road  over  us,  and 
played  an  engine  upon  us,  filled  us  with  stinking  water  from  the 
ditch,  until  we  were  like  men  in  the  pillory.  While  they  vented 
their  rage  on  Brother  Harris  I  spoke  to  the  people,  and  when 
they  turned  the  engine  upon  me  he  preached.  They  kept  on 
till  the  engine  was  spoiled,  and  then  threw  buckets  of  water 
over  us.  We  endured  their  spite  and  malice  upwards  of  an  hour, 
a  spectacle  of  shame  and  derision."    The  account  continues : 

"This  persecution  did  not  originate  amongst  the  people,  but 
wicked  men  were  hired  to  insult  and  abuse  us.  Gentlemen  fur- 
nished them  with  the  guns,  halberd  and  engine,  telling  them  to 
use  us  as  bad  as  they  could,  only  not  to  kill  us.  He  was  present 
on   horseback,   well-pleased   and   laughing   heartily.  They 


130 


A  HISTORY  OF 


dressed  up  two  images,  calling  the  one  'Cennick'  and  the  other 
'Harris,'  marched  them  up  and  down,  and  publicly  burned  them, 
amidst  the  shouts  and  buffoonery  of  the  mob. 

"Next  day  they  visited  the  house  of  Mr.  Lawrence,  broke  his 
windows,  cut  and  wounded  four  of  his  family  and  knocked  down 
his  daughter.  If  singing  were  heard  in  his  house,  or  a  minister 
supposed  to  be  there,  they  would  raise  a  riot  about  it.  The 
mob  was  next  encouraged  to  pull  it  down,  and  had  actually  com- 
menced the  work  when  a  violent  storm  which  burst  over  the 
town,  accompanied  with  thunder  and  lightning,  so  terrified 
them  that  they  were  obliged  to  desist.  An  oak  in  the  field  of 
their  unrelenting  persecutor  was  riven  to  pieces  and  scattered 
about.  This  was  noticed  by  the  people  when  they  saw  what 
followed. 

"On  preaching  being  appointed  again  at  Stratton,  near  Swin- 
don, the  leader  of  the  former  mob  got  a  butcher  to  save  all  the 
blood  he  could,  in  readiness  to  play  it  out  of  the  engine  and 
give  us  blood  enough,  he  said,  'because  Cennick  preached  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin.'  But  God  inter- 
fered, and  struck  \vith  particular  judgments  the  author  of  this 

plot  and  his  associates  at  once  and  the  same  time.    J  and 

T  and  K  and  B  all  bled  at  the  nose,  and  some  at 

the  mouth,  with  little  or  no  intermission.  One  had  fits  and 
never  recovered  his  faculties.  Another  bled  so  profusely  that 
he  died  in  ten  days. 

"On  their  flight  from  Stratton,  the  mob,  which  had  been 
posted  on  each  side  of  the  road  for  nearly  two  miles,  beat  them 
like  dogs  with  whips  and  sticks,  cursing  and  swearing  that  they 
would  butcher  them.  The  proud  man  who  was  at  the  bottom 
of  all  this  cruel  treatment  now  rejoiced  that  he  had  given  them 
enough  to  drive  them  from  Stratton.  But  God  was  watching 
his  conduct,  and  soon  visited  him  with  judgment.  A  few  days 
after,  while  riding  the  same  horse  on  which  he  sat  when  cheer- 
ing the  mob  at  White  Horse  Vale,  his  servant,  who  had  been 
cleaning  a  gun,  fired  it  off  as  his  master  rode  into  the  court; 
the  horse  started — the  rider  fell  off  to  the  ground — death  fol- 
lowed— and  where  is  he  ?" 

In  the  southwest  of  England  during  the  forties  additional 
evangelists  were  Schlicht,  Francis  Okely — a  graduate  of  Ox- 
ford— Horne,  Syms,  Brampton,  Heckewelder — the  father  of  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


future  missionary  in  America — Miinster,  Cooke,  Parminter, 
Heim,  Schultze  and  Hutton. 

Meanwhile,  however,  Ingham  and  Delamotte  were  meeting 
with  such  success  among  the  rough  colliers  of  Yorkshire  that 
they  asked  assistance,  and  Toltschig  joined  them.  In  1740  they 
could  report  upwards  of  fifty  societies  whose  members  met 
regularly  for  mutual  edification.  A  corps  of  evangelists  was 
organized  by  the  Brethren  in  London,  and  Smith  House,  a  large 
farm  in  the  parish  of  Halifax,  was  rented  for  their  accommoda- 
tion. Here  on  May  26  Toltschig,  Viney,  Piesch  and  Gussen- 
bauer  were  installed  as  the  leaders  in  charge  of  affairs  in  the 
north.  Soon  after  Ingham,  with  the  consent  of  those  whom  he 
had  been  serving",  formally  turned  over  his  work  to  the  Breth- 
ren, and  by  the  end  of  1743  forty-seven  recognized  preaching- 
places  were  supplied  by  them.  Over  each  of  the  five  districts 
into  which  the  Yorkshire  work  was  sub-divided  experienced 
brethren  were  in  charge ;  Spangenberg,  at  Smith  House ; 
Ockershausen,  at  Mirfield ;  Gussenbauer,  at  Pudsey;  Toltschig 
and  Piesch,  at  Great  Horton ;  Brown,  at  Holbeck.  In  the  scope 
of  their  activity  they  included  also  evangelization  in  Lancashire, 
Derbyshire  and  Cheshire,  where  David  Taylor  itinerated  and 
filled  appointments  at  various  points.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1743  a  very  critical  state  of  afifairs  arose  in  the  north,  during 
the  temporary  absence  of  Spangenberg  in  Germany.  That  the 
proceedings  of  the  synod  of  Hirschberg  should  have  given 
offense  in  various  quarters  is  not  to  be  altogether  wondered  at. 
Richard  Viney,  since  June  warden  of  the  Yorkshire  congrega- 
tions, utilized  this  dissatisfaction  to  create  differences  between 
the  English  and  German  officials  of  the  church.  His  chief  pre- 
text was  found  in  what  he  declared  to  be  the  unscriptural  use 
of  the  lot,  and  the  arbitrary  dominion  of  Zinzendorf  and  the 
Pilgcrgemeine.  Spangenberg's  return  in  October,  on  his  way  to 
Pennsylvania,  sufficed  to  heal  the  breach.  Viney  in  the  follow- 
ing spring  went  over  to  the  Wesleys ;  but  in  their  societies  also 
his  restless  discontent  and  religious  vagaries  became  a  source 
of  trouble. 

The  Bedford  group  formed  another  circle  of  operations — in 
the  Midlands,  where  again  Ingham  and  Delamotte  were 
pioneers.  Peculiar  interest  attaches  to  this  beginning  in  the 
town  hallowed  by  the  memory  of  the  stalwart  Christian  heroism 
of  the  saintly  author  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress.    "In  1738  the 


132 


A  HISTORY  OF 


small-pox  raged  so  fearfully  here,  that  sixty  to  seventy  persons 
died  in  one  week,  and  the  then  clergyman  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
the  Rev.  Jacob  Rogers" — himself  later  to  worthily  follow  in 
Bunyan's  footsteps,  and  when  appointed  to  clear  himself  from 
the  aspersions  of  high-churchmen  who  denounced  and  con- 
demned his  connection  with  the  evangelicals,  to  sturdily  preach 
to  the  bishop  and  clergy  in  convocation  assembled,  on  the  text 
Isaiah  56:  10 — ''sent  for  Ingham,  his  University  chum,  as  he  was 
a  very  earnest  preacher,  and  the  latter  took  Brother  Delamotte 
with  him.  Shortly  afterwards  Brother  Francis  Okely,  B.  A., 
who  had  spent  some  years  in  Germany,  returned  to  England,  and 
it  appears  that  through  him  Mr.  Rogers  became  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  Brethren.  Hutton  was  sent  later  on  to 
Bedford,  as  also  Brown,  Knolton,  Bowers  and  Schlicht.  In 
1742,  there  were  in  Bedford  forty,  and  in  the  twenty-two  villages 
round  that  had  been  visited,  one  hundred  and  fourteen  awakened 
souls.  Rogers  and  Okely  requested  that  Bedford  should  be 
made  a  'station'  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  and  in  the  same  year 
Brother  Heckewelder  was  sent  here  as  minister." 

It  is  with  the  names  of  these  Anglican  clergymen,  Ingham  and 
Rogers,  that  the  commencement  of  Ockbrook  in  Derbyshire,  is 
also  to  be  associated.  In  the  course  of  their  zealous  pilgrimage 
from  place  to  place  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  true  Chris- 
tianity, on  one  occasion  a  sermon  preached  by  the  latter  at  the 
Market  Cross  in  Nottingham,  in  1739,  niade  a  deep  impression 
on  Isaac  Frearson,  the  owner  of  the  land  on  which  Ockbrook 
now  stands.  Upon  his  invitation  Rogers,  who  had  meanwhile 
joined  the  Brethren,  preached  now  and  again  at  his  home,  and 
the  number  of  those  who  profited  was  so  considerable  that  Tolt- 
schig  in  1740  and  1741  organized  societies  here  and  in  Notting- 
ham. 

In  addition  to  the  widely  ramified  evangelism,  in  which  more 
than  twenty  German  and  Moravian  brethren  were  engaged, 
besides  a  considerable  number  of  Englishmen,  as  in  Germany 
and  America  provision  was  early  made  for  educational  under- 
takings. The  commencement  was  a  school  at  Broadoaks,  in 
Essex,  in  a  mansion  formerly  belonging  to  Wyseman  Clagett, 
Esq.,  whose  widow,  like  himself,  had  attained  assurance  through 
the  instructions  of  the  Brethren.  This  was  now  leased,  and  the 
children  of  the  London  members  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
scholars.    When  in  1745  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Crispe, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Bart.,  a  wealthy  member  of  the  Moravian  Church  who  placed 
large  means  at  its  disposal,  offered  her  estate  at  Buttermere  in 
Wiltshire  for  its  uses,  the  boys  were  removed  thither  from 
Broadoaks,  until  1748,  when  a  further  migration  took  place  to 
Yorkshire  in  connection  with  the  formation  of  the  chief  settle- 
ment in  the  north. 

Spangenberg's  period  of  administration  closing  in  1743,  the 
brothers  Dober  took  his  place,  and  were  in  turn  succeeded  from 
1746-1752  by  Peter  Bohler  as  superintendent  of  the  British  ac- 
tivity, seconded  by  John  Gambold,  erstwhile  rector  of  Stanton 
Harcourt,  whose  first  charge  amongst  the  Brethren  had  been 
the  management  of  the  school  at  Broadoaks,  but  whose  chief 
sphere  was  the  London  pastorate,  from  1744- 1768.  At  this 
time  Fetter  Lane  was  not  the  only  meeting  place  in  the 
metropolis.  Affiliated  societies  met  at  Wapping,  Hampstead, 
Kensington  and  at  a  couple  of  other  points.  In  1747,  for  ex- 
ample, the  London  Brethren  accepted  the  use  of  a  large  Baptist 
house  of  worship  near  Little  Moorfields,  where  Bohler  preached 
for  two  years,  and  where  appointments  were  met  until  1757. 

The  history  of  these  years  is  also  that  of  the  gradual  separa- 
tion of  the  work  of  the  Brethren  from  that  of  the  Methodists. 
In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Spangenberg  and  others  to  reestabhsh 
an  organic  connection,  each  was  to  have  its  own  peculiar  field 
of  labor.  The  final  parting  of  the  ways  took  place  in  the  early 
spring  of  1743,  on  Zinzendorf's  return  from  America.  Hutton 
had  succeeded  in  securing  a  conference  between  him  and  John 
Wesley  for  the  express  purpose  of  ending  the  rupture,  if  pos- 
sible. They  met  in  Gray's  Inn  Gardens,  then  a  public  prome- 
nade. To  the  man  whose  Pietistic  training  had  inchned  him  to 
emphasize  the  vital  power  of  regenerating  grace  as  a  divine  in- 
fluence which  must  be  passively  received,  Wesley's  view  of  the 
cooperation  of  the  human  with  the  divine,  manifested  in  active 
striving  after  hoHness  and  Christian  perfection  and  the  further- 
ance of  sanctification  by  active  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  ap- 
peared to  be  a  covert  form  of  Pharisaic  legalism.  They  parted 
unable  to  agree  concerning  truths  they  honestly  deemed  funda- 
mental. 

With  Whitefield  also  Zinzendorf  renounced  all  connection, 
owing  to  his  doctrine  of  reprobation. 

What  the  Methodists  had  been  to  the  miners  of  Cornwall  and 
around  Bristol,  Cennick  and  his  coadjutors  now  became  to  the 


134 


A  HISTORY  OF 


poor  Protestant  population  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  powerful 
preachers  in  cottages  and  in  the  open  fields  to  thousands.  It 
was  in  June,  1746,  that  Cennick  commenced  his  labors  in  the 
sister-isle.  The  doctrine  of  the  Cross  was  an  ofifense  to  many, 
and  more  than  once  he  had  to  flee  from  violence.  Yet  the 
society  which  he  formed  in  Dublin  increased  to  more  than  five 
hundred  members.  In  August  he  visited  Ballymena,  in  County 
Antrim,  and  delivered  his  first  sermon  in  a  private  house.  It 
made  such  an  impression  that  he  had  to  preach  thrice  that  day, 
the  last  time  in  the  open  air,  so  that  the  crowd  who  thronged 
the  place  of  meeting  might  be  able  to  hear.  At  least  two 
thousand  persons  listened  to  him.  When  the  sermon  was 
ended  a  gentleman,  accompanied  by  two  servants  on  horseback, 
dashed  through  the  crowd  and  beat  him  about  the  face  and  head 
with  his  whip,  so  that  he  was  with  difficulty  rescued  by  sympa- 
thizing hearers.  Even  so  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  DubHn. 
Later  he  came  again  and  was  assisted  by  other  ministers,  like 
Cossart,  Bryselius  and  Schlicht.  Every  four  weeks  they  were 
accustomed  to  meet  and  consult  at  Gloonen.  From  Ireland  Cen- 
nick went  to  Wales,  where  he  labored  with  much  blessing. 
Toltschig  followed  him  in  February,  1748,  as  superintendent  of 
the  Brethren's  work  in  Ireland. 

On  June  2,  1748,  an  important  event  in  the  history  of  the 
work  in  Yorkshire  was  the  consecration  of  the  congregation- 
house  on  Lamb's  Hill  (1744-49),  to  which  the  name  of  Grace 
Hall  (1749-63)  was  given.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  settle- 
ment in  future  called  Fulneck — a  name  of  two-fold  appropriate- 
ness, first  as  a  memorial  of  Comenius,  who  had  commended  the 
Unity  to  the  care  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  then  as  an  adapta- 
tion of  the  ancient  name  by  which  the  property  had  been  known, 
the  Falneck,  Fal'nake  or  Fallen-oak  estate.  In  1749  a  society 
was  organized  in  the  city  of  Leominster,  a  fruit  of  the  labors 
of  Wesley  and  Cennick.  In  January  of  this  year  Count  Zin- 
zendorf  visited  England  once  more,  and  convened  a  provincial 
conference  in  London.  Among  other  things  the  establishment 
of  "choir  houses"  in  the  English  congregation  was  agreed  upon. 
On  June  22  the  Count  set  out  for  Yorkshire  with  his  son  Chris- 
tian Renatus.  His  company,  visiting  Ingham  at  Aberford  on 
the  way,  arrived  at  Lamb's  Hill  on  June  30,  and  remained  there 
for  about  four  weeks.  He  was  much  pleased  with  the  beautiful 
site  and  complete  designs  for  the  new  settlement  on  the  gently 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


sloping  hillside  opposite  the  noble  woods  of  Tong  Hall,  with 
the  purling  twin  streams  of  the  trout-denized  Tong  Beck  be- 
tween, a  settlement  which  was  to  rival  Herrnhut  and  Herrn- 
haag  and  Marienborn.  Every  Sunday  preaching  was  held  in 
seven  places  of  worship  in  the  neighborhood,  and  private  meet- 
ings in  eleven  others  during  the  week,  attended  in  all  by  about 
three  thousand  persons. 

But  the  most  important  result  of  the  visit  of  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf  to  England  at  this  time  proceeded  from  his  negotiations 
with  the  English  government.  Preparations  for  this  weighty 
affair  had  been  in  progress  for  several  years,  and  the  incentive 
was  of  yet  more  remote  date.  As  far  back  as  1740  the  windows 
of  Fetter  Lane  Chapel  had  been  broken  by  rioters.  The  hostile 
demonstrations  at  the  house  of  Brother  Bowes,  in  Little  Britain, 
London,  in  December,  1743,  had  necessitated  a  suspension  of 
the  services  there.  In  the  north  their  enemies  had  endeavored 
to  arouse  popular  prejudice  against  the  Brethren  by  slander- 
ously asserting  that  they  were  secret  Papists  and  adherents  of 
the  Young  Pretender.  In  March,  1745,  the  superintendent  at 
Broadoaks  was  tendered  a  visit  by  a  crowd  rampant  with 
bumptious  loyalty,  threatening  dire  vengeance ;  but  the  civil 
reception  accorded  them  by  Brother  Metcalf  and  the  sight  of 
a  Bible  and  a  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  close  proximity  and 
in  a  place  of  honor  upon  his  parlor  table  appeased  their  wrath. 
In  the  v/estern  world  the  Assembly  of  New  York  in  1744  had 
adopted  repressive  legislation  directed  against  the  Moravian 
missionaries  amongst  the  Indians,  and  in  consequence  Post  and 
Zeisberger  had  been  arrested.  At  the  time  of  the  Scotch  inva- 
sion, in  common  with  numerous  civil  and  religious  bodies,  the 
Brethren  had  presented  an  address  to  King  George,  assuring 
him  of  their  attachment  to  the  House  of  Hanover  and  to  the 
Protestant  faith,  and  the  representations  made  by  Abraham 
von  Gersdorf  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  to  Prime 
Minister  Lord  Granville  and  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations had  been  productive  of  an  earnest  recommendation  of 
the  Brethren  to  the  authorities  of  New  York ;  but  the  exact 
status  of  the  church  was  still  undefined.  By  force  of  circum- 
stances, rather  than  from  a  settled  poHcy  the  organization  of 
congregations  in  distinction  from  mere  societies  had  been 
brought  about,  through  the  procuring  of  licenses  from  local 
magistrates,  in  self-defence  against  mob  violence.     In  1747, 


136 


A  HISTORY  OF 


thanks  to  the  friendly  advocacy  of  General  Oglethorpe  in  the 
House  of  Commons  and  of  Lords  Dublin  and  Sydenham  in  the 
Upper  Chamber,  Parliament  had  granted  the  Moravian  Breth- 
ren a  dispensation  from  the  oath  of  fealty,  which  was  a  con- 
dition of  naturalization  in  Pennsylvania,  and  thus  placed  them 
on  the  same  footing  with  the  Friends. 

All  these  things  increased  the  desirability  of  having  their  legal 
position  in  England  clearly  defined.  Hence  in  December,  1748, 
Abraham  von  Gersdorf,  Louis  von  Schrautenbach,  Charles  von 
Schachmann  and  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  were  empow- 
ered to  conduct  negotiations,  and  for  this  purpose  landed  at 
Harwich  on  January  i,  1749,  and  proceeded  to  London,  where 
Count  Zinzendorf  had  previously  secured  a  house  in  Blooms- 
bury  Square.  The  court  party  and  the  ministry  were  opposed. 
But  the  arrival  of  the  Irene  on  January  11,  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  colonists  destined  for  Pennsylvania  and  several  Eskimo 
converts  from  Greenland,  excited  general  interest.  A  ParUa- 
mentary  committee  of  investigation  was  secured,  consisting  of 
fifty  members,  chiefly  through  the  activity  of  Horace  Walpole, 
and  to  this  committee  evidence  was  submitted  by  Zinzendorf, 
whose  researches  were  assisted  especially  by  Henry  Cossart. 
The  chief  positions  substantiated  thereby  were  the  following: 
that  this  church  is  of  ancient  Eastern  origin ;  that  the  Brethren 
have  been  known  widely  for  twenty  or  thirty  years  as  the  de- 
scendants of  the  old  Bohemian-Moravian  Church,  but  also  in 
fellowship  with  the  adherents  of  the  Confessions  of  Augsburg 
and  Berne ;  that  this  church  had  been  acknowledged  by  King 
Edward  VI,  and  by  King  George  I,  and  had  been  recognized 
by  the  primate  under  George  H,  in  1737:  and  that  its  true  eccle- 
siastical name  is  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  One  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  documents  were  offered  in  substantiation  of  these  points. 
A  bill  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  these  facts  and  reported 
favorably  by  the  committee,  passed  its  third  reading  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  April  16,  and  though  at  one  time  its 
fate  seemed  doubtful  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where  objection 
was  chiefly  raised  against  the  powers  of  Zinzendorf  as  a  for- 
eigner, by  virtue  of  his  position  as  Ordinarius  ct  Advocatus 
Fratrum,  after  being  championed  by  Lord  Halifax,  Lords  Car- 
teret, Granville,  Chesterfield,  Argyle,  Prince  Frederick  of 
Wales  and  the  Bishop  of  Worcester,  it  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Upper  House  on  May  12,  and  received  the  royal  signature  on 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


June  6.  By  this  act  the  Moravian  Church  was  recognized  as 
a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  its  members  formally 
granted  full  liberty  of  conscience  and  worship  throughout 
Britain  and  its  dependencies ;  and  the  position  of  its  ministers 
and  of  Zinzendorf  in  particular  became  one  of  immediate  promi- 
nence and  honor.  Friendly  relations  were  established  with  a 
number  of  prelates,  especially  with  Sherlock  of  London  and 
Wilson  of  Sodor  and  Man,  and  with  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  the  Primate  of  Ireland. 


138 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


BETHLEHEM  AND  NAZARETH  AS  JOINT  CENTERS  OF  EVANGELISTIC 
ACTIVITY.     I 742- I 748. 

In  June,  1742,  one  hundred  and  twenty  persons  who  consti- 
tuted the  congregation  at  Bethlehem  had  subscribed  to  rules  and 
regulations  unique  in  character,  conceived  with  the  definite  pur- 
<.pose  of  furthering  what  the  Brethren  believed  to  be  their  distinct 
mission  in  America.  At  the  basis  lay  a  classification  of  the  mem- 
bers into  two  sets,  'one  portion  devoting  themselves  to  missions 
and  to  education,  %he  other  laboring  to  support  these  heralds  and 
teachers.  On  July  15  ten  itinerants  were  sent  out — Leonard 
Schnell,  Gottlieb  Petzold,  George  Kaske,  Christopher  Heine, 
Frederick  Post,  Gottlieb  Enter,  Joseph  Shaw,  John  Okely,  Rein- 
hard  Ronner  and  Philip  ]\Ieurer.    It  was  enjoined  upon  them 

/'not  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  other  ministers  and  to  ab- 
stain from  religious  controversy,  but  to  attempt  to  bring  the 
unchurched  colonists  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 
From  time  to  time  they  reported  at  headquarters  and  received 
new  fields  of  labor.  Compensation  was  neither  sought  nor  de- 
sired at  the  hands  of  those  for  whom  they  labored.    Their  own 

^brethren  provided  the  frugal  support  with  which  they  were  con- 
tent. Private  dwellings,  barns,  school-houses  and  sometimes 
one  or  another  of  the  few  humble  log  or  stone  churches  that 
existed  in  the  interior  of  the  colony,  gave  opportunity  for  their 
audiences  to  gather.  As  their  work  assumed  distinctness  and 
circles  of  persons  here  and  there  became  definitely  identified 
with  them,  the  labors  of  the  itinerants  were  followed  by  house- 

i-to-house  care  of  souls  on  the  part  of  "visitors"  who  practically 
did  the  work  of  pastors.    Nor  were  the  needs  of  the  young  over- 

'tlooked.  By  the  year  1746  at  least  fifteen  schools  were  supplied 
with  teachers.  Often  a  married  couple  was  placed  in  charge, 
for  even  when  children  were  not  fed  and  housed  outright,  a 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


mid-day  meal  had  to  be  given,  especially  in  winter,  owing  to  the  - 
scattered  condition  of  the  sparse  population. 

In  it  all  the  primary  aim  was  not  to  advance  the  interests  of  - 
the  Moravian  Church  as  such.    The  idea  of  union  dominated. 
The  work  was  unselfish  and  disinterested  to  a  degree.  The 
tendency  was  to  repel  rather  than  to  solicit  additions  to  the> 
membership  of  the  particular  denomination  whose  energies  were 
so  zealously  bent  to  the  general  good.    Even  evangelists  them- 
selves, who  in  Europe  had  been  led  through  the  agency  of  Mora- 
vians to  deeper  heart-religion  and  having  identified  themselves 
with  some  settlement  were  now  heralds  for  the  Brethren  in  the 
woods  of  Pennsylvania,  did  not  conceive  that  they  had  broken  ■- 
off  from  fellowship  with  the  adherents  of  the  confession  of 
faith  to  which  they  had  been  previously  attached.  They  labored  ~ 
side  by  side  with  the  distinctively  Moravian  element,  were  sub- 
ject to  the  same  regulations,  observed  the  ritual  of  the  Mora- 
vians and  were  completely  at  one  with  them,  but  did  not  under- 
stand this  identification  as  incompatible  with  membership  in  the  4 
Lutheran  or  Reformed  or  Anglican  Churches,  as  the  case  might '• 
be.     No  denomination  was  organized  in  the  colonies  as  yet,  - 
and  the  furtherance  of  vital  religion  not  of  denominationalism,-v>- 
was  the  aim  of  the  evangelists.    Hence  there  could  be  funda- 
mental agreement  among  men  who  had  made  similar  heart- 
experience  in  heralding  the  all-sufificient  atonement  of  the  God- 
man,  the  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  proclaiming  justification  and 
assurance  through  faith  in  His  meritorious  life  and  death. 
Though  the  previous  training  and  nationalty  of  the  evangelists 
differed,  Germans,  Swiss,  Swedes,  Welsh,  Scotch,  English  and  k 
Moravians  were  as  one.     Former  (Lutherans,\  hke  Meurer, 
Biittner,  Schnell,  Bryzelius,  Petzold,  Roseen,  Reutz,  Reinke, 
Meinung,  Kaska  and  Soelle,  and  erstwhile  (Reformed)  like 
Lischy,  Bechtel,  Brandmuller  and  Rauch,  and  (ex-Anglicans  or 
dissenters,3liT<e  Shaw,  Powell,  Bruce,  Okely,  Rice,  Yarrel,  Utley, 
Thorpe  and  Gambold,  as  the  years  passed  were  scarcely  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  old  Moravian  stock — Seifferth,  Seidel, 
George  and  Joseph  Neisser,  Jacob  Till,  Paul  Schneider,  Paul 
Miinster  and  Anthony  Lawatsch. 

Throughout  the  land  these  fervent  self-denying  heralds  awak- 
ened a  great  hunger  for  the  Word  of  God.  Through  their 
agency  the  "Great  Awakening"  of  1740- 1742  under  the  agency, 
of  Whitefield,  Jonathan  Edwards,  Gilbert  Tennant,  Jonathan 


140 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Parsons,  Benjamin  Pomeroy,  Joseph  Bellamy  and  others,  had  its 
^counterpart  amongst  the  German  settlers  though  the  outward 
signs  of  intense  conviction  may  not  have  been  so  startling.  In- 
•rdeed  the  two  movem.ents  had  met  when  the  "First  Sea  Congre- 
gation" touched  at  New  Haven  in  the  spring  of  1742.  Thirty- 
^one  localities  were  centers  of  itineracy,  each  with  its  group  of 
)  preaching  places  around  it,  by  the  year  1748.  The  more  im- 
portant were  Germantown,  Philadelphia,  Lancaster,  York, 
Donegal,  Heidelberg,  Quitopehilla  (later  Hebron  and  finally 
Lebanon),  Warwick  (Lititz),  Oley,  AUemaengel,  Maguntschi 
(Emmaus),  SaHsbury,  Falckner's  Swamp,  the  Trappe,  Mahana- 
tawny,  Neshaminy  and  Dansbury  in  Pennsylvania ;  Manocacy 
(Graceham),  in  ^Maryland  ;  Maurice  River,  Racoon,  Penn's  Neck, 
Oldman's  Creek,  Pawlin's  Kill,  Walpack  and  Brunswick  in  Jer- 
sey ;  Staten  Island  and  Long  Island ;  Newport,  Rhode  Island ; 
Broadbay,  Maine ;  and  Canajoharie,  New  York.  Nathanael 
Seidel  and  Eric  Westmann  in  the  winter  of  1747  journeyed  west 
of  the  Susquehanna.  In  Maryland  and  Virginia  many  hstened 
with  profit  to  Schnell  and  Gottschalk,  and  held  to  the  Brethren 
notwithstanding  the  adverse  proclamation  of  the  governor  of 
the  latter  colony.  In  spite  of  it,  moreover,  Spangenberg  and 
Reutz  renewed  the  attempt  to  be  useful  here  in  1748.  Jasper 
Payne  and  Christian  Frolich,  after  visiting  the  negroes  of  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  in  1748  made  a  tour  through  New  England, 
going  beyond  Boston.  Nor  were  these  devoted  itinerants  wont 
to  consult  the  condition  of  the  weather  or  of  the  roads,  or  to 
have  regard  to  the  season  of  the  year  when  setting  out  upon 
their  toilsome  foot-journeys  sometimes  of  hundreds  of  miles  in 
extent  and  of  months'  duration. 

^  In  the  latter  part  of  October,  1744,  Spangenberg,  conse- 
crated a  bishop  at  Marienborn  on  the  15th  of  June,  came  to 
take  charge  of  the  entire  field  of  operations  in  America,  reliev- 

^  ing  Bohler,  who  returned  to  Europe.  It  was  an  exceedingly 
wide  sphere,  embracing  the  most  diversified  duties.  But  add- 
ing as  he  did  to  the  indefatigable  industry  and  system  of  an 
efficient  administrator  and  shrewd  man  of  afrairs  the  sound  judg- 
ment of  a  thorough  theologian  and  the  quenchless  zeal  of  a 
pioneer  missionary,  by  his  unflinching  aderence  to  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  right  and  his  unaffected  sincerity  and  active  sym- 
pathy he  well  earned  the  cognomen  by  which  he  was  affection- 

—  ately  and  familiarly  known.  "Brother  Joseph,"  protector  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


141 


director  as  he  was  of  his  brethren  in  a  strange  land,  who  con- 
cealed a  warmth  of  heart  beneath  a  sometimes  severe  exterior. 
In  addition  to  the  supervision  of  the  itineracy,  he  superintended 
the  missions  amongst  the  Indians,  and  to  a  considerable  extent 
also  made  provision  for  the  work  in  the  Wesfe  Indies  and  in 
Surinam.  Besides  he  directed  the  economic  Hfe  and  enterprises 
of  the  settlements  at  Nazareth  and  Eethlehem,  and  presided 
over  all  the  undertakings  controlled  by  the  "Pennsylvania 
Synod." 

The  Indian  mission  alone  made  heavy  demands  upon  his  time 
and  care.  Difficulties  characteristic  of  efforts  for  the  aborigines 
in  every  decade  of  American  history  annoyed  and  hampered  it. 

Ranch's  commencement  of  operations  had  given  omen  of  a- 
fine  future.  Landing  in  New  York,  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
two,  on  July  16,  1740,  he  had  unexpectedly  met  Frederick  Mar- 
tin, on  a  visit  from  St.  Thomas,  who  introduced  him  to  Christian 
friends.  Certain  Mohicans  having  business  with  the  Governor 
and  acquainted  with  the  Dutch  language,  permitted  him  to  go 
with  them  on  their  return  home  to  Shekomeko,  which  he  reached 
on  August  16.  Results  were  not  long  delayed.  Wasamapa,  the 
fourth  of  his  converts,  and  previously  a  drunken  ruffian,  thus 
described  his  mode  of  preaching:  "Brethren,  I  have  been  a 
heathen,  and  have  grown  old  among  the  heathen ;  therefore  I 
know  how  the  heathen  think.  Once  a  preacher  came  and  began 
to  explain  that  there  was  a  God.  We  answered,  'Dost  thou 
think  us  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that?  Go  to  the  place 
whence  thou  camest !'  Then  another  preacher  came  and  began 
to  teach  us,  and  to  say,  'You  must  not  steal,  nor  He,  nor  get 
drunk,  and  so  forth.'  We  answered :  'Thou  fool,  dost  thou 
think  that  we  do  not  know  that?  Learn  first  thyself,  and  then 
teach  the  people  to  whom  thou  belongest,  to  leave  of¥  these 
things ;  for  who  steal  or  lie,  or  who  are  more  drunken  than 
thine  own  people  ?"  And  thus  we  dismissed  him.  After  some 
time  Brother  Christian  Henry  Ranch  came  into  my  tent,  and  sat 
down  by  me.  He  spoke  to  me  nearly  as  follows :  'I  come  to 
you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth ;  He  sends  to 
let  you  know  that  He  will  make  you  happy  and  deliver  you 
from  this  misery  in  which  you  lie  at  present.  To  this  end  He 
became  a  man  and  gave  His  life  a  ransom  for  man,  and  shed 
His  blood  for  him.'  When  he  had  finished  his  discourse,  he  lay 
down  upon  a  board,  fatigued  by  the  journey,  and  fell  into  a 


142 


A  HISTORY  OF 


sound  sleep.  I  then  thought:  'What  kind  of  a  man  is  this? 
There  he  Hes  and  sleeps;  I  might  kill  him  and  throw  him  out 
into  the  road,  and  who  would  regard  it?  But  this  gives  him 
no  concern.'  However  I  could  not  forget  his  words.  They 
constantly  recurred  to  my  mind.  Even  when  I  was  asleep,  I 
dreamt  of  that  blood  which  Christ  shed  for  us.  I  found  this  to 
be  something  dififerent  from  what  I  had  ever  heard,  and  I  in- 
terpreted Cristian  Henry's  words  to  the  other  Indians.  Thus 
through  the  Grace  of  God,  an  awakening  took  place  amongst  us. 
^  I  say,  therefore,  brethren,  preach  Christ  our  Saviour  and  His 

\  suflPerings  and  death,  if  you  will  have  your  words  to  gain  en- 

^  trance  amongst  the  heathen." 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  congregation  at  Sheko- 
meko  the  power  of  the  gospel  made  itself  felt  in  the  neighboring 
villages  of  Pachgatgoch  and  Wechquadnach.  The  fame  of  the 
changed  life  of  Wasamapa,  formerly  fierce  as  a  savage  bear,  now 

,  lamb-like,  brought  Indians  to  Shekomeko  from  places  more  than 

i  a  day's  journey  distant.    Example  preached  effectively.  Soon 
the  thirst  for  truth  made  it  imperative  that  Rauch  should  receive 
assistance.    Gottlob  Biittner,  John  Martin  Mack,  Pyrlaeus  and 
Senseman,  the  two  latter  married  men,  came  to  extend  opera- 
tions into  Connecticut.    At  Potatik  whites  as  well  as  Indians 
attended  Mack's  preaching ;  at  Pachgatgoch  Buttner  was  glad- 
—  dened  by  numerous  conversions  of  savages.    Next  Rauch  vis- 
ited the  vicinity  of  Albany,  Schoharie  and  Canajoharie ;  and 
^  Pyrlaeus,  who  had  previously  spent  three  months  with  Conrad 
^Weisser  studying  Indian  dialects,  with  his  wife  removed  into 
the  Iroquois  country  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of  their  speech. 

J.  By  the  end  of  the  year  1743  Shekomeko  alone  reckoned  sixty- 
three  baptized  Indians. 

But  next  spring  the  opposition  of  unscrupulous  whites  came 
to  a  head.  Liquor-sellers  in  particular,  whose  occupation  was 
seriously  affected  by  the  progress  of  the  gospel  amongst  the  In- 
dians, stirred  up  false  reports,  and  circulated  the  story  that  the 
Moravians  were  Papists  in  disguise  and  secret  emissaries  of 
the  French  in  Canada.  When  required  to  clear  themselves  by 
oaths  of  allegiance  to  King  George  they  begged  to  be  excused 
from  this  because  contrary  to  their  conscientious  convictions, 
but  declared  their  willingness  to  solemnly  affirm  what  was  de- 
manded. But  the  Assembly  in  September  made  the  oath  of 
allegiance  obligatory,  and  also  imposed  a  license  on  "vagrant 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


preachers,  Moravians  or  disguised  Papists,"  on  pain  of  a  fine 
of  forty  pounds  and  six  months'  imprisonment,  with  expulsion 
from  the  colony  on  repetition  of  the  offense.  In  consequence 
of  this,  when  Frederick  Post  and  David  Zeisberger  went  to 
Canajoharie,  to  learn  the  Maqua  language,  they  were  arrested^ 
and  brought  to  New  York  on  February  22,  1745,  and  on  refus- 
ing to  take  any  oath  suffered  in  jail  for  seven  weeks,  until  Gov- 
ernor Thomas,  of  Pennsylvania,  interposed  in  their  behalf. 

This  attitude  of  the  authorities  of  New  York  caused  the 
Brethren  in  Bethlehem  to  determine  on  a  removal  of  the  mis-  » 
sion  to  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  beyond  the  settlements  of 
the  colonists ;  and  in  order  to  secure  the  assent  of  the  great 
confederacy  of  the  Six  Nations  then  dominant  on  the  Atlantic 
slope.  Bishop  Spangenberg,  with  the  missionaries  Zeisberger^. 
and  Schebosch  and  the  interpreter  Conrad  Weisser  undertook 
an  arduous  and  perilous  journey  to  Onondaga,  the  chief  town 
of  the  Iroquois  league.  The  treaty  made  with  Zinzendorf  threes 
years  before  was  solemnly  renewed,  and  permission  granted  for 
a  settlement  at  Wyoming  on  the  Susquehanna.  But  contrary 
to  expectations  the  converts  at  Shekomeko  declined  to  remove 
until  compelled  by  their  hostile  white  neighbors.  And  the 
French  rendered  Wyoming  unsafe.  Therefore  after  a  tempo- 
rary stay  of  the  converted  Indians  near  Bethlehem,  they  were 
settled  on  a  tract  of  land  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  beside 
the  Mahoni  where  it  adds  its  tribute  of  waters  to  the  Lehigh. 
This  land  had  been  purchased  for  the  founding  of  a  Christian 
village,  and  here  in  1746  the  mission  church  and  a  circle  of^ 
dwellings  arose,  receiving  the  name  of  Gnadenhiitten.  Gover- 
nor Thomas  lent  his  approval  to  the  undertaking,  and  it  is 
stated  that  by  the  year  1748  the  number  of  converts  in  the  care 
of  the  mission  reached  the  respectable  total  of  five  hundred.  > 

During  the  years  1746  to  1748  an  outpost  was  also  estab- 
lished at  Shamokin  (Sunbury)  by  Martin  Mack,  Joseph  Powell, 
John  Hagen  and  Anthony  Schmidt,  at  the  request  of  Chief 
Shikelimy. 

Evangelistic  and  missionary  activity  so  extensive,  and  carried  i 
on  by  settlements  which  together  did  not  number  more  thanZ 
six  hundred  people,  could  have  been  maintained  by  no  ordinary/ 
methods.  Capacity  to  support  this  work  is  explained 'by  the| 
adoption  of  a  reHgico-communal  system  of  Hfe,  which  was,  how- 
ever, not  based  upon  communistic  convictions  as  usually  under- 


144 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Stood  by  political  economists.  These  arrangemets  arose  grad- 
ually, and  took  special  form  after  1744.  They  were  not  adopted 
with  the  design  of  retaining  them  permanently,  or  from  the 
notion  that  they  were  the  ideal  for  normal  Christian  society. 
They  were  rather  conceived  with  a  view  to  develop  as  quickly 
as  possible  the  resources  of  the  new  settlement  in  a  manner 
coordinate  with  the  utmost  employment  of  the  latent  power  of 
the  congregation  for  evangelism.  Partly  from  lack  of  house- 
room  in  the  beginning,  and  partly  from  the  necessity  of  self- 
dependence  in  relation  to  the  church  in  Europe  at  the  com- 
mencement of  pioneer  life,  the  family  as  an  institution  was  made 
secondary  to  the  requirements  of  the  congregation.    This  ten- 

_>dency  was  strengthened  by  the  choir-system  which  coincident 
with  the  colonization  in  Pennsylvania  began  throughout  the 
Unity  to  take  the  place  of  more  customary  provisions  for  the 
close  care  and  cure  of  souls.  A  community  of  labor  rather  than 
fof  property,  coupled  with  an  extreme  appHcation  of  the  division 
of  the  members  according  to  age,  sex  and  condition  in  life  as 
married  or  single,  each  choir  living  apart,  was  fundamental. 
He  who  had  property  retained  it  if  he  chose;  but  all  placed 
their  time,  talents  and  labor  at  the  disposal  of  the  church.  No 

'/(.private  enterprises  were  carried  on.  Every  business  and  manu- 
facture, and  all  real  estate  belonged  to  the  church.  Every 
branch  of  industry  came  under  the  supervision  of  committees 
responsible  to  a  board  of  direction,  the  Aufseher  Collegium,  of 
which  Spangenberg  was  chairman.  The  result  was  the  estab- 
lishment and  successful  prosecution  of  at  least  thirty-two  indus- 
tries, apart  from  a  number  of  farms,  by  the  year  1747.  The 
duties  of  each  person  were  assigned  to  him  by  the  central  com- 
mittee of  managers,  who  made  a  study  of  his  capacities.  In 
return  each  person  received  the  necessaries  of  life  and  a  home. 
With  all  its  defects,  chief  of  which  was  its  overlooking  the  fact 

•"^  that  the  family  is  a  divine  institution  even  more  ancient  than 
the  church,  this  "Economy''  in  its  day  served  its  purpose  re- 
markably. No  town  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania  could  at 
this  time  so  efficiently  minister  to  the  varied  wants  of  travelers 
or  of  neighboring  settlers.  About  fifty  evangelists  and  minis- 
ters were  supported,  and  about  fifteen  schools  maintained,  and 
the  traveling  expenses  provided  for  missionaries  to  the  West 
Indies  and  Surinam.  Instead  of  requiring  grants  from  Europe 
as  a  missionary  province  of  the  church,  after  the  financial  em- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


barrassments  in  Germany,  Holland  and  England  in  the  fifties 
Pennsylvania  could  send  money  to  help  to  make  good  the  losses. 
And,  not  least,  a  race  of  men  and  women  was  nurtured  who 
did  not  count  their  lives  dear,  but  held  themselves  in  readiness 
for  any  arduous  undertaking  that  would  further  the  kingdom 
of  Christ.  Spangenberg  testified  that,  when  word  reached 
Bethlehem  concerning  the  death  of  the  missionaries  on  St. 
Thomas,  if  he  had  called  for  volunteers,  twenty  or  thirty  would 
have  been  willing  to  set  out  at  once  for  that  pestilential  spot. 

ReHgion  and  the  spirit  of  devotion  dominated  the  life  of  the 
two  settlements.  Frequent  assemblies  for  daily  prayer,  on  the  — 
paf^  of  single  choirs,  or  of  the  entire  congregation,  were  charac- 
>l?nstic  features.  Church  discipHne  was  carefully  administered. 
The  adoption  of  municipal  and  ecclesiastical  regulations,  though 
referred  to  the  church  council,  was  often  decided  by  the  lot. 
Offices  were  filled  in  a  similar  manner.  The  function  of  even 
the  night-watchmen  was  not  only  to  insure  security,  but  also 
to  promote  piety ;  they  announced  the  hours  by  singing  hymns 
as  they  made  their  rounds. 

Associated  with  Spangenberg  and  his  wife,  and  after  1747 
with  his  chief  assistant.  Bishop  Christian  Frederick  Cammerhof, 
were  especially  the  following :  Adolphus  Meyer,  David  Bischoflf, 
Nathanael  Seidel,  Matthew  Schropp,  George  Neisser,  Anthony 
Lawatsch,  and  last  but  not  least  Henry  Antes,  who  for  several 
years  fully  identified  himself  with  the  Moravian  Church.  Jasper 
Payne  and  John  Brownfield,  formerly  secretary  to  Governor 
Ogletjiorpe,  were  the  book-keepers ;  and  Abraham  Boemper 
and  Timothy  Horsefield,  and  later  Henry  van  Vleck  acted  as 
financial  agents  in  New  York.  So  active  was  the  trade  with 
Europe  and  so  considerable  the  stream  of  emigrants  that  for  a 
decade  after  1746  the  missionary  ship  Irene  was  busily  employed 
going  backwards  and  forwards  between  New  York  and  Euro- 
j)ean  ports  in  the  interests  of  the  church. 


146 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FINANCIAL  STRAITS,  AND  THE  GERMS  OF  CONFERENTIAL  GOVERN- 
MENT, I 750- I 754. 

With  the  formal  recognition  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  by  the 
government  of  England,  London  assumed  new  importance  for 
the  Brethren.  For  several  years  it  served  as  the  center  of  their 
operations.  That  Zinzendorf  himself  regarded  London  some- 
what in  this  manner  is  evident  from  the  elaborate  plans  which 
he  now  adopted  for  an  extensive  estabHshment,  worthy  of  the 
dignity  of  the  Advocatus  et  Ordinarius  of  the  Unity,  now  that  it 
had  attained  a  favored  standing  in  Britain  and  the  colonies. 
In  April,  1750,  the  ancient  mansion  of  the  ducal  family  of  An- 
caster  in  Chelsea,  once  the  home  of  Sir  Thomas  Moore,  was 
leased  for  a  long  term  of  years,  with  the  adjoining  Beaufort 
grounds  and  gardens.  Chelsea  was  at  this  time  a  pleasant 
western  suburb,  and  a  terrace  led  from  Lindsey  House,  as  this 
mansion  was  named,  to  the  steps  whence  a  barge  might  push 
off  for  a  journey  on  the  waterway.  Under  the  supervision  of 
Zinzendorf's  kinsman,  Count  Sigismund  Augustus  von  Gers- 
dorf,  the  newly  acquired  property  received  alterations  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  architectural  taste  of  the  age,  a  clergy-house 
and  chapel  were  erected,  the  grounds  laid  out,  a  cemetery  plan- 
ned, and  rows  of  houses  projected  in  a  series  of  hollow  squares 
after  the  fashion  of  the  continental  settlement  congregations, 
roomy  accommodations  being  designed  for  the  members  of  the 
various  choirs.  As  thus  planned  the  place  received  the  name 
of  Sharon.  Not  all  the  designs  were  carried  out  in  connection 
with  it.  The  improvements  which  were  made  cost  75,000 
thaler.  But  in  twenty-one  years  this  fine  property  had  to  be 
alienated,  the  chapel,  clergy-house  and  burial-ground  alone 
being  retained.  This  was  one  of  the  consequences  of  the  finan- 
cial distress  which  swept  down  like  a  devastating  storm  imme- 
diately after  the  enforced  exodus  from  Wetteravia. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


For  an  understanding  of  these  troubles  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
view the  past. 

During  the  period  from  1722  to  1736,  that  is,  from  the  found- 
ing of  Herrnhut  to  Zinzendorf's  banishment,  the  sphere  of  the 
Brethren's  activity  was  mainly  limited  to  Herrnhut  and  the  itin- 
erations at  home  and  the  incipient  missions  abroad.  The 
Count's  property  was  encumbered  for  one  quarter  of  its  value 
when  he  acquired  it.  The  emigrants  at  first  possessed  only 
their  hands,  their  skill,  their  diligence  and  their  good-will. 
Both  parties  contributed  their  all  to  the  advancement  of  the 
common  cause,  and  were  strong  in  faith.  Gradually  the  cut- 
lery, linen-weaving,  pottery  and  farming  of  the  people  pros- 
pered, and  the  rent  which  they  paid  their  patron  for  their  lands 
and  houses  became  a  considerable  sum.  At  the  time  of  the 
merging  of  the  Count's  evangelistic  interests  with  the  future  of 
the  Moravian  Church,  the  Countess  paid  off  the  friends  who 
had  been  parties  to  the  covenant  of  1724,  and  in  1728  the  ex- 
tensive family  establishment  was  made  to  include  provision  for 
those  Brethren  who  were  employed  in  the  Lord's  service  as 
evangelists.  Thus  began  in  a  germinal  way  the  Gemein- 
Diakonie,  or  financial  system  for  the  enterprises  of  the  church 
in  which  no  distinction  was  made  between  the  accounts  of  the 
Zinzendorf  family  and  those  which  involved  the  purely  disin- 
terested enterprises  of  religion,  though  the  accounts  of  Herrn- 
hut as  a  congregation  and  as  a  commune  were  kept  separate 
from  this  common  reckoning.  Sometimes  friends  sent  contri- 
butions, sometimes  small  sums  were  collected  for  the  equip- 
ment of  the  heralds ;  but  as  a  rule  they  set  out  with  very  scanty 
supplies,  relying  mainly  on  faith.  Meantime  the  Count  re- 
garded the  obligations  of  the  church  as  his  own. 

Providentially  just  before  Zinzendorf's  exile  a  wealthy  Laba- 
dist  in  Holland,  Matthias  Beuning,  urged  the  Count  to  fund 
all  his  obligations  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest  than  was  cus- 
tomary in  Saxony,  he  himself  offering  to  advance  the  money 
out  of  regard  for  the  Count's  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  His 
loan  of  20,000  florins  was  most  opportune.  After  Pilgerruh, 
Heerendyk,  Herrnhaag  and  Marienborn  were  projected,  the 
same  friend,  and  other  Dutch  sympathizers,  Jacob  SchelHnger, 
Van  Alpen  and  Decknatel,  advanced  additional  money  on  easy 
terms,  whilst  Lelong  helped  to  provide  suppHes  for  the  mission 
in  Greenland.    During  the  Count's  absence  in  America  Lady 


148 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Zinzendorf,  and  Jonas  Paulus  Weiss,  a  former  merchant  of 
Nuremberg  who  had  joined  the  church,  and  Jacob  SchelHnger 
came  to  the  assistance  of  the  General  Diaconate,  each  con- 
tributing two-thirds  of  their  property.  Now  Jonas  Paulus 
Weiss  became  identified  with  the  financial  management.  It 
appears  that  he  had  contributed  40,000  thaler  and  SchelHnger 
90,000  florins.  The  estabhshments  in  Wetteravia  and  the  set- 
tlements which  were  now  projected  in  Silesia  and  at  Neudieten- 
dorf  involved  very  considerable  outlays.  Though  Spangenberg 
in  England  and  the  General  Conference  in  Germany  encouraged 
liberality  on  the  part  of  members  and  friends,  nothing  was  sys- 
tematized, so  as  to  secure  an  income  of  a  definite  amount. 
Hence  when  the  functions  of  the  Conference  were  suspended 
and  Zinzendorf  assumed  absolute  control  after  the  synod  of 
Hirschberg,  a  very  critical  state  of  things  had  arisen,  the  in- 
debtedness being  estimated  at  300,000  florins.  Yet  such  was 
the  enthusiastic  spirit  of  the  day,  faith  being  carried  to  extremes 
in  connection  with  the  extravagances  of  the  "Time  of  Sifting," 
that  there  followed  further  expansion  and  the  assumption  of 
new  obligations,  without  sufficient  guarantees  to  cover  them. 
Indeed,  the  synods  paid  practically  no  attention  to  the  subject 
of  finances. 

In  1747  Zinzendorf  purchased  the  estate  of  Hennersdorf. 
Negotiations  with  Parliament  in  England  involved  outlay,  owing 
to  the  lordly  state  which  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  assume  in 
order  to  make  a  favorable  impression  in  London.  The  lease 
of  Barby  added  to  the  complications.  The  choir  establishments 
sought  their  individual  interests  rather  than  those  of  the  entire 
Unity.  The  crash  in  Wetteravia  came,  very  heavy  losses  being 
the  consequence  of  expulsion  from  the  properties  which  the 
Brethren  had  rendered  valuable  by  extensive  improvements. 
Colonization  expeditions  were  costly.  Lindsey  House  and  Ful- 
neck  and  other  English  establishments  demanded  great  financial 
resources.  The  journeys  of  the  Pilgcrgemcine  were  expensive. 
The  creditors  in  Holland  began  to  become  restive  on  account 
of  the  dilatory  manner  in  which  the  interest  was  paid  by  Freder- 
ick Wenceslaus  Neisser,  the  financial  manager  of  the  church  in 
that  country.  Well  it  was  the  undertakings  of  the  Brethren  in 
America  and  in  Livonia  were  self-sustaning.  A  pity  it  was  that 
British  needs  were  merged  into  the  general  finances  of  the  church 
in  1747,  since  here  wealthy  members  and  friends,  like  Dinah  Ray- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


149 


mond  von  Layrisch  and  Mary  Crispe  Stonehouse  were  willing  to 
assist,  and  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  stated  collections  for 
the  defrayal  of  current  expenes,  like  that  in  vogue  in  the  Metho- 
dist societies,  seems  to  have  been  contemplated  at  one  time.  In 
1748  a  conference  was  held  in  Amsterdam  in  reference  to  the 
financial  situation;  but  no  radical  measure  was  taken.  Appar- 
ently it  was  difficult  for  Zinzendorf  to  tear  himself  away  from 
his  special  forte,  the  upbuilding  of  the  spiritual  inner  life,  and 
concentrate  his  powers  upon  the  details  of  finance  in  a  system- 
atic manner ;  and  yet  such  was  the  constitution  of  the  church  at 
this  time,  that  he  alone  was  vested  with  power  to  shape  definitely 
the  financial  policy.  Even  though  others  may  here  and  there 
have  perceived  the  critical  features  of  the  situation,  they  could 
do  little  to  remedy  it,  authority  not  being  in  their  hands.  On 
the  Count's  return  to  London,  in  175 1,  Hutton,  Cossart  and 
Gambold  expressed  their  fears  that  the  complicated  state  of 
afJairs  must  end  in  bankruptcy ;  but  to  one  of  Zinzendorf 's  ardent 
temperament  to  entertain  this  thought  seemed  akin  to  lack  of 
faith.  Temporary  relief  was  rendered  by  a  wealthy  dyer,  a  Mr. 
Hockel,  who  though  not  a  member  of  the  church,  in  1752  un- 
dertook to  pay  the  pressing  claims  of  certain  creditors.  Money 
was  also  raised  by  James  Charlesworth,  warden  of  the  choir 
of  unmarried  men  at  Fulneck,  whose  superior  financial  ability 
in  the  management  of  an  extensive  cloth-manufacture,  carried 
on  in  Yorkshire  for  the  benefit  of  the  church,  had  developed  a 
trade  with  Portugal  and  Russia. 

In  the  midst  of  these  perplexities  the  shadow  of  a  sore  afflic- 
tion fell  upon  Zinzendorf.  On  February  27  of  this  year  a  hemor- 
rhage disclosed  the  weakness  of  his  son's  constitution. 
Christian  Renatus  was  only  twenty-five  years  of  age,  the  third 
child  of  his  parents.  The  raw  winds  of  spring  and  the  heavy 
atmosphere  of  London  aggravated  his  trouble.  But  the  end 
came  with  unexpected  suddenness  on  May  28.  His  father  was 
absent,  preaching  at  Mile  End,  and  the  parting  blessing  was 
given  by  his  former  tutor,  Bishop  John  Nitschmann.  Tenderly 
his  companions  took  the  body  by  boat  to  Chelsea  on  the  first  of 
June.  In  May  of  the  previous  year  his  father  had  spoken  of 
sending  him  to  Pennsylvania,  but  then  he  could  not  be  spared 
from  his  duties  amongst  the  young  men.  In  person  Christian 
Renatus  von  Zinzendorf  was  of  slight  build,  in  temperament 
mild  and  affectionate,  with  a  leaning  to  the  meditative  and  emo- 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tional  in  religion.  He  was  called  home  before  his  powers  had 
fully  matured ;  but  that  he  might  have  become  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor of  his  father  as  a  writer  of  religious  poetry,  had  he  been 
spared,  is  borne  out  by  the  superior  sentiment  of  his  hymns  of 
the  Passion  which  gave  promise  of  rich  poetic  gifts.  His 

"  My  Redeemer,  overwhelmed  with  anguish 
Went  to  Olivet  for  me." 

will  be  cherished  wherever  the  Moravian  Church  makes  its  way. 

By  the  end  of  the  year  Count  Zinzendorf  realized  the  preca- 
rious financial  situation  of  the  church.  Instead  of  trying  to 
screen  himself  by  any  expedient,  or  repudiating  the  obligations 
as  those  of  the  organization  but  not  his  personal  afTair,  he 
magnanimously  offered  security  for  ten  thousand  pounds  of 
the  English  indebtedness.  Soon  it  was  evident  that  thirty 
thousand  would  be  needed.  About  a  month  afterwards  the 
climax  of  emergency  arrived.  A  Portugese  Jew,  Jacob  Gomez 
Serra,  the  banking  correspondent  of  the  Brethren,  went  into 
bankruptcy,  and  through  him  £67,621  were  lost.  The  Count 
was  in  imminent  danger  of  the  debtor's  prison.  But  provi- 
dentially the  solicitor  of  the  Brethren,  Mr.  Heaton,  and  their 
friend  alderman  Hankey  obtained  temporary  security  and  paci- 
fied most  of  the  creditors  to  the  degree  of  granting  an  extension 
of  time. 

But  the  year  which  followed  was  full  of  care.  Already  in 
January  the  confidence  of  the  Dutch  creditors  was  shaken.  On 
the  fourth  of  May  Whitefield  came  out  in  an  open  "Expostu- 
latory  Letter"  to  Zinzendorf,  in  which  he  violently  attacked  the 
character  of  the  Count  and  his  Brethren,  representing  that  he 
and  his  Germans  had  used  their  British  adherents  and  were 
making  tools  of  them  for  their  own  purposes,  and  would  get 
them  into  prison  for  debt.  A  financial  conference  was  held 
from  August  27  to  September  25,  Leonard  Dober  presiding. 
A  triple  board  of  general  administration  was  projected,  one 
part  to  meet  the  obligations  of  the  debt,  another  to  maintain 
existing  undertakings,  and  a  third  for  new  enterprises.  Nich- 
olas de  Watteville  became  steward  of  the  Unity  in  London, 
Cornelius  van  Laer  was  given  charge  of  the  finances  in  Hol- 
land, and  Count  Henry  the  28th  Reuss,  with  John  Frederick 
Kober  as  his  assistant  took  charge  of  the  German  accounts. 

Providential  interpositions  were  repeatedly  recognized.  Zin- 
zendorf's  own  unselfish  conduct  became  the  best  apology  over- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


against  unfriendly  pamphleteers,  and  went  far  towards  restor- 
ing confidence.  In  March,  1754,  Mary  Stonehouse  bequeathed 
her  estates  of  Buttermere  in  Wiltshire  and  Dornford  in  Ox- 
fordshire to  the  church.  Dinah  von  Layrisch  and  her  husband 
offered  40,000  thaler.  The  Von  Damnitz,  Von  Schachmann 
and  Von  Wiedebach  families  in  Saxony  and  the  Van  Laer  family 
and  Jan  Verbeek  in  Holland  proved  friends  in  need.  Abraham 
Diirninger  of  Herrnhut  and  the  Yorkshire  industries  of  the 
Church  together  brought  aid  to  the  amount  of  two  thousand 
pounds.  Count  von  Gersdorf,  Prefect  of  Lusatia,  who  had  died 
in  1 75 1,  had  left  his  estates  nominally  to  Baron  Henry  von 
Zezschwitz,  but  practically  to  the  church.  These  became  avail- 
able in  1753,  and  although  not  unencumbered  and  at  first  re- 
garded as  precarious  property,  in  time  became  a  source  of 
revenue. 

What  however  helped  as  much  as  anything  else  to  tide  over 
the  difficulty,  was  the  bovmdless  faith  and  unshrinking  confi- 
dence in  the  mission  of  the  Unity  at  this  time  manifested  by  its 
leaders.  The  mission  to  the  negroes  of  Jamaica  was  under- 
taken in  1754,  the  purchase  of  the  one  hundred  thousand  acre 
tract  in  North  CaroHna  as  a  center  for  missions  and  the  seat 
of  an  exclusive  settlement  was  negotiated,  and  additional  mis- 
sionaries were  sent  to  Greenland  and  to  Surinam  in  this  year. 
So  the  storm  clouds  began  to  scatter  in  the  English  sky. 

But  the  crisis  in  the  Dutch  affairs  had  yet  to  be  met.  Here 
the  purely  financial  matters  were  entangled  in  personal  animosi- 
ties, connected  with  partisan  spirit  centering  about  a  former 
pastor  of  Heerendyk,  Petsch  by  name.  In  November,  1752, 
he  and  his  adherents  in  the  place  had  declared  Heerendyk  an 
independent  congregation.  In  1754  they  withdrew  from  the 
settlement.  He  seems  to  have  spurred  on  Beuning  and  Deck- 
natel  to  institute  lawsuits.  The  Schellingers  and  others  vacil- 
lated. What  aggravated  the  situation  was  the  fact  that  the 
Classis  of  Amserdam  had  decided  against  the  doctrinal  position 
of  the  Brethren,  though  the  Synod  of  Utrecht  withheld  its  ver- 
dict. When  Zinzendorf  arrived  at  Zeist  on  March  31,  on  his 
way  to  Germany,  the  worst  was  threatened.  A  conference  with 
the  chief  creditors  on  April  10  proved  fruitless.  But  on  the 
death  of  Beuning  his  widow  quashed  the  suit  which  he  had  in- 
stituted. A  favorable  opportunity  was  at  length  offered  for  a 
representative  of  the  Brethren,  Frederick  Henry  Goldschmidt 


A  HISTORY  OF 


von  Guldenberg,  formerly  a  captain  in  the  Dutch  army  and  now 
a  member  at  Zeist,  to  open  negotiations.  The  less  wealthy 
creditors  were  paid  in  full,  and  the  others  consented  to  a  refund- 
ing of  their  claims  at  three  per  cent.  The  total  amount  reached 
the  considerable  sum  of  287,000  florins. 

This  favorable  issue  was  largely  owing  to  the  deliberations 
of  a  synod  held  at  Taubenheim,  an  estate  in  Upper  Lusatia  be- 
longing to  Baron  von  Zezschwitz.  Fifteen  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Church  constituted  this  important  gathering.  A  three-fold  task 
was  before  them :  to  devise  plans  to  raise  interest  and  ultimately 
pay  oflf  the  debt ;  to  provide  support  for  the  servants  of  the 
church,  and  to  supply  the  means  for  new  undertakings.  John 
Frederick  Kober,  formerly  a  jurist  in  the  service  of  Prefect  von 
Gersdorf,  and  since  1747  a  member  of  the  church,  who  hence- 
forth should  exert  a  most  wholesome  influence  in  its  adminis- 
trative affairs,  strenuously  urged  the  separation  of  the  debt  of 
the  church,  the  accounts  of  the  Jxingcrhans,  that  is,  of  the  work 
of  the  church  in  its  undertakings  at  large,  and  the  accounts  of 
the  Zinzendorf  family.  A  method  by  which  this  might  be  ac- 
complished was  sketched  out,  but  was  not  carried  into  effect. 
It  was  decided  that,  if  possible,  every  member  should  be  led  to 
recognize  a  personal  obligation  to  contribute  to  the  extinction 
of  the  debt.  The  revenues  of  the  various  estates  were  esti- 
mated to  annually  fall  short  of  the  interest  of  the  debt  in  Eng- 
land and  Holland  alone  by  4,000  thaler.  Every  effort  was  to 
be  made  to  secure  the  acceptance  of  notes  at  three  per  cent,  on 
the  part  of  the  creditors. 

The  germs  of  the  future  constitutional  government  of  the 
church  also  lay  in  the  transactions  of  the  synod  of  Taubenheim. 
Since  1750  collegiate  government  had  been  in  vogue  in  Silesia, 
affairs  there  being  in  charge  of  Leonard  Dober,  Waiblinger, 
Von  Seidlitz,  and  Louis  von  Schrautenbach.  In  the  spring  of 
1752  a  sort  of  cabinet  had  been  organized  in  London,  to  act  as 
Zinzendorf's  board  of  advisers  for  the  administration  of  the 
church  as  a  whole.  Of  this  cabinet  Baron  Abraham  von  Gers- 
dorf had  been  Treasurer ;  James  Hutton,  Secretary ;  Cossart, 
Agent  of  the  Count  in  Britain ;  and  the  Syndic  Nitschmann, 
Baron  Sigismund  von  Gersdorf  and  Frederick  von  Marschall, 
Councillors.  Later  Jonas  Paulus  Weiss,  and  during  his  stay 
in  England,  Spangenberg  had  been  also  associated  with  them. 
But  the  powers  of  this  cabinet  were  merely  advisory,  and  were 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


wholly  subordinate  to  Zinzendorf's  own  judgment.  Now  at 
Taubenheim  a  "Board  of  Administrators"  was  appointed  for 
the  management  of  all  business  connected  with  the  indebted- 
ness and  with  the  estates — still  responsible,  it  is  true,  to  the 
Count,  and  not  to  the  church,  and  yet  very  largely  acting  inde- 
pendently. Its  members  were :  Von  Damnitz,  President ;  Von 
Zezschwitz,  Vice-President ;  Von  Seidlitz,  Von  Liidecke,  Von 
Schachmann  and  Kober ;  with  Weinel  and  John  Gotthold  Wol- 
lin  as  Secretaries.  Though  this  proved  to  be  only  a  temporary 
arrangement,  it  marked  a  return  to  the  Unity  of  some  of  the 
extraordinary  powers  conferred  upon  and  accepted  by  the 
Count  after  the  synod  of  Hirschberg.  It  was  significant  as  an 
approach  to  conferential  government,  formerly  so  character- 
istic of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  and  destined  to  be  again  the  funda- 
mental feature  of  its  constitutional  development. 

Thus  two  blessings  in  disguise  came  as  an  accompaniment  of 
the  financial  embarrassments  succeeding  upon  and  not  uncon- 
nected with  the  heedlessness  of  the  Wetteravian  period.  The 
one  was  absolute  return  to  sober  scriptural  thought  and  ritual, 
accellerated  by  the  sharp  discipline  of  anxiety.  The  other  was 
the  escape  from  the  dangers  sooner  or  later  inevitably  attendant 
upon  irresponsible  one-man  power,  in  another  way  than  at  the 
cost  of  a  disagreeable  and  unseemly  rupture  with  the  magnani- 
mous nobleman  to  whom  the  Brethren  were  so  deeply  indebted. 


154 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


zinzendorf's  eventide. 

On  June  4,  1755,  Count  Zinzendorf  returned  to  Herrnhut  with 
the  acknowledged  aim  of  reestablishing  the  importance  of  the 
mother  congregation  in  relation  to  the  hfe  and  activity  of  the 
Unity.  Henceforth  the  interests  of  the  entire  organization  should 
be  furthered  by  him  from  the  place  where  the  various  agencies 
for  good  had  taken  their  rise.  His  reception  was  a  worthy  one. 
Between  rows  of  children  dressed  in  white  and  singing  songs  of 
welcome  he  passed  on  to  a  service  of  praise  in  the  thronged 
church.  It  was  a  lovefeast  indeed.  How  much  reason  for 
praise  had  not  he  and  those  who  welcomed  him  in  spite  of  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  years  of  his  exile.  Herrnhut  itself  had 
greatly  improved.  Stone  houses  displaced  the  former  struc- 
tures of  wood.  Abraham  Diirninger's  masterly  management 
since  1747  had  spread  the  connections  of  Herrnhut's  manu- 
factures far  and  wide — to  Holland,  Spain  and  Portugal.  His 
business  in  general  merchandise  was  highly  remunerative.  His 
yarn  and  linen  factory  had  won  an  enviable  reputation.  Two 
years  ago  he  had  established  on  the  Petersbach  the  first  chintz 
and  cotton  factory  in  Saxony.  Thrift  had  been  accompanied 
by  public  improvements.  Nor  was  the  happiness  of  the  situa- 
tion confined  to  the  Count's  relationship  to  the  prospering 
town  and  to  the  people  whom  he  regarded  as  Brethren,  not  re- 
tainers. The  bitter  antagonism  of  neighboring  gentry  and 
clergy  had  given  place  to  an  appreciation  of  Herrnhut  and  its 
institutions  and  the  aims  of  its  patron.  Baron  Huldenberg  of 
Neukirch,  a  main  agent  in  his  former  banishment,  now  visited 
him  in  company  with  his  pastor,  Charles  Rudolph  Reichel,  and 
acknowledged  the  wrong  of  which  he  had  formerly  been  guilty. 
Neukirch  became  a  rallying-point  for  the  Lusatian  Diaspora. 
Now  also  the  second  of  a  series  of  conferences  with  pastors  and 
candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  State  Church  was  held  at 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Herrnhut  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  edification,  counsel  and 
exhortation. 

The  first  of  these  conferences,  hereafter  in  session  annually 
and  destined  to  become  an  important  factor  in  the  reHgious  life 
of  the  neighborhood,  had  been  planned  in  connection  with  the 
Diaspora  in  Upper  Lusatia  and  had  convened  on  Whitsunday  of 
the  previous  year.  Pastor  Groh  of  Berthelsdorf,  Charles  Rudolf 
Reichel  of  Neukirch,  John  Frederick  Reichel  of  Taubenheim, 
Michaelis  of  Hermsdorf  near  Gorlitz,  Lowe  of  Hermsdorf  near 
Meissen,  Benade  of  Milkel,  and  Franz  of  Klix  had  been  the 
chief  participants,  with  Frederick  and  John  de  Watteville  as  the 
representatives  of  the  Brethren.  It  had  been  agreed  to  unite 
with  the  Brethren  in  their  simple  method  of  proclaiming  justifi- 
cation through  faith  in  the  merits  of  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  Unity  by  communicating 
the  Gemein-N achrichten  to  awakened  souls,  and  by  convening 
quarter-yearly  at  Herrnhut.  Bands  of  such  who  were  in  sym- 
pathy were  to  be  statedly  visited  by  suitable  Brethren  from 
Herrnhut,  and  services  held ;  but  all  this  without  any  separation 
from  the  Lutheran  Church.    Widespread  awakenings  resulted. 

Meanwhile  the  administrative  arrangements  projected  at  Tau- 
benheim began  to  go  into  effect,  Zinzendorf  with  the  Jungerhans 
— accommodated  at  Berthelsdorf — having  supervision  of  the 
inner  Hfe  and  spiritual  activity  of  the  church,  whilst  Count 
Reuss  and  Kober  and  their  associates  administered  the  finances. 

Educational  affairs  now  attracted  Zinzendorf's  attention.  In 
1754  a  college  had  been  commenced  by  Clemens  at  Barby  in 
connection  with  the  theological  seminary.  At  Hennersdorf  the 
Cctharincnhof  purchased  in  1747  had  been  remodeled  and  was 
occupied  as  an  academy  imder  Layritz,  with  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  The  castle,  known  as  the  Fricdbiirg, 
housed  one  hundred  and  six  others  under  Vierorth.  In  conse- 
quence of  changes  planned  by  the  Count,  by  October,  1756,  the 
scholars  of  the  Catharinenhof  were  transferred  to  Barby,  and  the 
curriculum  of  the  college  improved  in  order  to  increase  its 
efficiency  as  a  school  of  preparation  for  the  seminary.  It  was 
recognized  that  the  church  could  no  longer  count  upon  obtain- 
ing its  ministers  from  the  universities,  but  must  educate  its  own 
men.  Hither  the  library  of  Count  von  Gersdorf  had  been  re- 
moved, becoming  the  nucleus  of  the  archives  of  the  Unity,  and 
here  also  a  publication  house  was  now  established,  where  with 


156 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  assitsance  of  Clemens  a  new  edition  of  the  various  works  of 
Zinzendorf  should  be  published.  In  Herrnhut  a  flourishing 
school  for  girls  and  in  Xiesky  a  school  for  boys  already  existed. 
In  this  year  an  additional  school  for  boys  was  opened  at  Neu- 
wied,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Swiss  Diaspora. 

From  May  27  to  June  8,  1756,  a  general  synod  was  in  session 
at  Herrnhut,  to  which  special  importance  attaches.  Sixty-three 
brethren  and  nine  sisters  constituted  its  membership.  The  Con- 
tinental and  British  congregations  were  represented  by  delegates 
duly  empowered  to  act  in  their  name.  In  his  opening  ad- 
dress Zinzendorf  laid  stress  upon  the  necessity  of  so  developing 
the  constitution  of  the  church  as  to  make  provision  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  collegiate  governing  board,  the  convocation  of 
synods  constituted  by  the  votes  of  the  membership  of  the  church, 
and  for  meeting  the  financial  requirements  of  administration  by 
stated  contributions.  It  seemed  that  the  time  had  come  when 
a  theocratic  republic  would  be  at  length  inauguarated,  especially 
since  Kober  and  Sigismund  von  Gersdorf  strenuously  urged 
that  attention  be  centered  upon  the  needful  legislation.  But  a 
mournful  loss  interrupted  the  proceedings. 

On  June  19  the  death  of  Lady  Zinzendorf  was  announced. 
She  had  scarcely  been  herself  since  the  death  of  her  son,  Chris- 
tian Renatus ;  and  her  life  of  unremitting  toil  and  anxiety  in 
behalf  of  the  church  had  worn  upon  her.  From  the  first  she  had 
entered  with  all  her  soul  into  her  husband's  projects.  For 
twenty-three  years  she  had  managed  their  property,  leaving  him 
free  to  devote  himself  to  his  chosen  work.  Simplicity,  absence 
of  affectation,  sympathy,  uniform  poise  of  disposition,  less  in- 
clination to  speak  than  to  listen,  with  aflPability  and  fondness 
for  social  intercourse,  excellent  judgment,  quick  insight,  strong 
force  of  character  and  self  sacrificing  willingness  to  undergo  and 
endure  labors  and  hardships — had  been  the  traits  which  had 
endeared  her  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people.  Her  loss 
was  the  more  startling  since  her  illness  lasted  only  ten  days. 
She  was  laid  to  rest  on  the  Hutberg  on  the  25th  in  the  presence 
of  two  thousand  persons,  twenty-four  ministers  serving  as  pall- 
bearers, and  John  Nitschmann,  jr.,  praying  the  burial  litany  at 
the  grave. 

Her  death  had  an  influence  upon  the  transactions  of  the 
synod.  Though  a  complete  review  of  the  operations  of  the 
church  was  had,  and  its  finances  inquired  into,  the  formulation 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


of  a  constitution  was  postponed,  save  that  the  "Board  of  Ad- 
ministrators" was  changed  to  a  "Board  of  Directors"  respon- 
sible to  the  church,  not  to  Zinzendorf.  He  had  himself  ex- 
pressed his  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  preparing  for  colle- 
giate government  by  giving  utterance  to  these  words,  when  the 
startling  news  of  his  wife's  departure  reached  him :  "No  one 
departs  before  the  Lord  wills  it,  and  when  the  loss  can  be  en- 
dured. I  shall  also  depart  and — there  will  be  improvement. 
For  this  the  conferences  exist,  and  they  will  remain  perma- 
nently." The  functions  of  the  new  Board  of  Directors  were 
still  limited  to  afifairs  of  business,  oversight  of  the  inner  life  and 
spiritual  activity  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Count  and  his 
immediate  associates. 

In  preparation  for  the  synod  a  conference  of  former  exiles 
from  Moravia  and  Bohemia  had  been  held,  which  appointed  a 
special  committee  to  prepare  lists  of  all  emigrants,  including 
those  who  had  found  a  home  in  Berlin  and  Rixdorf  or  in 
America,  with  the  dates  of  their  flight  and  accounts  of  their  ex- 
periences. Thus  most  important  materials  for  future  history 
were  gathered  and  preserved.  The  conference  also  formulated 
a  memorial  to  be  addressed  to  the  synod  with  regard  to  the 
retention  of  the  distinctly  Moravian  tenets  respecting  declina- 
tion of  judicial  oaths,  the  holding  of  political  offices,  amassing 
of  M^ealth,  bearing  of  arms,  etc.,  and  urged  the  importance  of 
the  ancient  discipline.  This  memorial  the  synod  received  very 
favorably.  John  de  Watteville  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  church  to  perpetuate  the  distinctively  Moravian 
characteristics.  Clemens  considered  the  Moravian  episcopate 
to  be  especially  valuable  for  the  welfare  of  the  missions.  Kober 
declared  that  the  malice  of  the  world  demands  that  we  main- 
tain our  ecclesiastical  rights  inherited  from  the  Moravian 
Church.  As  a  practical  result  of  this  consensus  of  views  An- 
drew Grasmann,  since  1751  pastor  of  the  Bohemian  congrega- 
tion in  Berlin,  was  consecrated  a  bishop  at  Herrnhut  on  July  5 
by  Bishops  John  de  Watteville,  Leonard  Dober  and  John 
Nitschmann,  sr. 

His  wife's  death  now  began  to  have  an  efifect  upon  the  habits 
of  Count  Zinzendorf,  who  was  no  longer  his  former  energetic 
self.  He  became  more  and  more  morbidly  fond  of  seclusion. 
Instead  of  the  wonderful  regularity  and  systematic  dispatch  of 
business  which  had  been  so  characteristic  of  him  in  the  past. 


158 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  secret  of  his  prodigious  capacity  for  work,  he  gave  himself 
up  to  periods  of  listless  inaction;  then  to  overtake  his  duties 
he  spent  whole  nights  in  writing,  and  so  disordered  his  already 
impaired  health.  Noting  this  and  fearing  for  the  worst, 
his  friends  persuaded  him  about  a  year  later  to  marr}^  Anna 
Nitschmann — June  27,  1757.  It  was  a  private,  morganatic  mar- 
riage, the  ceremony  being  performed  in  the  castle  at  Berthels- 
dorf,  and  not  conferring  upon  her  the  title  of  Countess. 

In  the  preceding  December  Count  Frederick  Christian,  his 
elder  brother,  had  died  at  his  estate  of  Garverwitz  near  Dres- 
den. Less  inclined  than  ever  for  worldly  honors  and  proposing 
to  devote  himself  absolutely  to  the  service  of  the  church,  our 
Count  abdicated  his  position  in  the  empire  as  head  of  the  house 
of  Zinzendorf  in  favor  of  his  nephew  Louis,  a  diplomat  in  the 
service  of  Austria,  his  renunciation  being  dated  on  the  day  of 
his  second  marriage. 

In  September,  with  a  large  company  of  co-workers,  he  com- 
menced a  tour  of  preaching  and  visitation.  Ebersdorf,  Barby, 
Wetteravia,  Basel,  Montmirail,  Lausanne  and  Geneva  were 
scenes  of  his  activity.  The  retvirn  journey  was  by  way  of 
Schafi'hausen  through  Swabia  and  Franconia.  It  was  no 
pleasure  trip  and  occupied  five  months.  The  severe  weather 
and  the  rough  roads  made  demands  on  his  powers  of  endurance, 
and  undermined  his  strength. 

Meantime  several  congregations  on  the  Continent  had  been 
in  the  midst  of  dangers  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War.  The  Saxon  and  Silesian  settlements  were  in  the  very 
thick  of  war's  alarms.  For  two  months  Herrnhut  was  the 
headquarters  of  a  Prussian  division  and  for  six  months  Prus- 
sian troops  were  in  the  vicinity.  During  the  battle  of  Lowositz 
the  thunder  of  the  cannons  could  be  plainly  heard.  On  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1757,  about  two  thousand  Prussians  were  quartered 
there,  costing  the  settlement  five  hundred  thaler.  Before  the 
battle  of  Hochkirch  Herrnhut  was  full  of  troops.  One  day  two 
thousand  pounds  of  bread  had  to  be  supplied  to  the  Austrians, 
and  at  another  time  Austrian  hussars  pillaged  the  Brethren's 
House.  But  on  the  whole  Herrnhut  fared  well.  Special  con- 
sideration was  shown  for  the  religious  character  of  the  place. 
Officers  of  high  rank  in  both  armies  were  willing  to  furnish 
mihtary  protection.  An  enormous  trade  sprang  up,  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  troops.    In  a  couple  of  days  in  August, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


1758,  for  example,  the  Diirninger  establishment  sold  goods  to 
the  value  of  two  thousand  thaler.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  fields  were  ravaged  and  great  anxiety  prevailed,  Herrn- 
hut  was  far  more  fortunate  than  neighboring  towns ;  and  when 
the  new  church  was  dedicated  on  August  13,  1757,  thirteen  hun- 
dred communicants  could  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  without 
molestation. 

Kleinwelke,  where  awakenings  amongst  the  Wends  dated 
back  to  1730,  and  where  a  church  had  been  dedicated  on  July 
2,  1758,  became  a  refuge  for  plundered  people  of  the  vicinity 
after  Hochkirch ;  but  Neusalz  experienced  the  bitterness  of 
war's  distress  to  the  full,  being  plundered  and  totally  destroyed 
by  the  Russians  on  September  24  and  25,  1759.  From  their 
blazing  homes  its  people  fled  to  Gnadenberg. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  whole  the  Seven  Years'  War  proved  a 
blessing  in  disguise.  A  large  number  of  princes,  generals  and 
diplomats  visited  Herrnhut  and  the  other  settlements ;  and  per- 
sonal observation  and  intercourse  on  their  part  did  more  to  re- 
move prejudices  than  could  have  been  accomplished  by  many 
apologetic  writings.  Esteem  and  respect  took  the  place  of  hos- 
tility or  contempt. 

After  his  visit  to  Switzerland  Zinzendorf  more  and  more  con- 
fined his  personal  activity  to  Herrnhut  and  the  neighboring  con- 
gregations. Indeed,  his  only  considerable  absence  was  for  a 
visit  to  Heerendyk,  where  he  met  Beck  from  Greenland  and 
Schumann  from  Surinam.  Sickness  again  and  again  gave  inti- 
mations that  his  usefulness  was  nearing  its  end.  When  con- 
ferring with  his  Brethren  it  was  noticeable  that  he  was  losing 
his  powers  of  concentration  and  attention.  He  frequently 
lapsed  into  reminiscences.  It  became  evident  that  he  was  no 
longer  indispensable  to  the  church.  It  was  firmly  founded,  and 
his  presence  might  hinder  progress  in  the  direction  of  self- 
development.  Hence  the  Lord  called  His  servant  home  at  the 
right  time.  He  fell  asleep  on  May  9,  1760,  after  a  brief  but 
painful  attack  of  catarrhal  fever.  His  end  was  very  peaceful, 
a  falling  into  gentle  slumber,  whilst  his  son-in-law,  John  de 
Watteville,  uttered  the  Old  Testament  benediction.  His  last 
words  that  could  be  understood  were  "Ich  zverde  wohl  heiin- 
gehen."  His  second  wife  followed  him  on  the  21st  of  the  month. 
All  that  was  mortal  of  him  they  laid  aside  the  Countess  in  the 
center  of  the  Hutberg.    iNIore  than  two  thousand  members  of 


i6o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  church  which  Providence  had  destined  him  to  resuscitate 
walked  in  the  funeral  procession.  Vast  crowds  had  viewed  the 
coffin  previously  and  a  detachment  of  imperial  guards  had  been 
sent  from  Zittau  to  maintain  order,  had  that  been  necessary. 
John  de  Watteville  delivered  the  discourse,  and  John  Nitsch- 
mann,  jr.,  as  pastor  of  Herrnhut  again  officiated  at  the  grave. 

Being  but  a  man.  Count  Zinzendorf  had  his  faults.  They 
were  those  that  grew  out  of  his  temperament.  But  his  extra- 
ordinary virtues  and  signal  devotion  to  Christ  so  completely 
overshadow  them  that  a  worthy  estimate  requires  that  they  be 
ignored.  The  very  mistakes  which  he  made  arose  from  an 
excess  of  zeal  in  unfaltering  adherence  to  his  Hfe-purpose.  He 
reahzed  the  true  object  of  earthly  existence,  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  enjoyment  of  fellowship  with  Him  whom  to  know  is 
life  eternal ;  and  his  service  was  His  servant's  passion.  Zinzen- 
dorf was  worthy  of  a  place  in  Germany's  Walhalla.  It  was  he 
more  than  any  other  one  man  who  providentially  became  the 
founder  of  Protestant  missions ;  for  he  preeminently  served  his 
own  and  succeeding  generations  by  recalling  Christendom  to  a 
sense  of  its  obligation  to  carry  out  the  last  command  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  did  the  significance  of  his  place  in  his- 
tory end  with  this.  Humanly  speaking,  the  Moravian  Church 
as  an  ecclesiastical  body,  resuscitated  by  his  utter  self-sacrifice, 
owed  him  a  debt  which  it  could  never  repay.  This  church  was, 
however,  privilf^ged  to  perpetuate  what  was  best  in  the  Pietistic 
movement,  and  to  serve  as  a  handmaiden  holding  the  torch  of 
vital  Christianity  for  the  rekindling  of  churches  whose  warmth 
and  light  had  been  almost  choked  by  the  miasma  of  Rationalism. 


BENJAMIN    LA  TROBE. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


l6l 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


BRITISH  AFFAIRS  FROM  THE  RECOGNITION   BY  PARLIAMENT  TO 
ZINZENDORF'S  DEATH. 

Whilst  the  Count  was  absent  on  the  Continent  from  July, 
1750,  to  August,  1751,  Peter  Bohler  held  the  reins  of  leader- 
ship. It  was  a  year  of  progress ;  the  financial  storms  had  not 
yet  broken  over  the  Unity. 

In  Ireland,  especially,  the  first  enthusiasm  was  ripening  into 
speedy  fruitage.  Dublin,  where  Cennick  had  commenced  his 
preaching  in  June,  1745,  with  Benjamin  La  Trobe  as  his  in- 
defatigable coadjutor,  had  become  a  permanent  center  of  ac- 
tivity in  May,  1748,  with  the  opening  of  a  hall  for  purposes  of 
worship  on  Bishop  street,  capable  of  accommodating  four  hun- 
dred people.  Though  the  old  weapons  of  mob  violence  had 
been  directed  against  Cennick  and  his  assistants,  Cossart, 
Thomas,  Knight  and  Smith,  there  had  been  a  rapid  increase  in 
the  membership  of  the  society  adhering  to  the  Brethren. 
Bohler,  with  the  assistance  of  Heine,  therefore  formally  organ- 
ized a  hundred  of  the  three  htmdred  members  of  the  society 
into  a  congregation  in  full  connection  with  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 
William  Horne  was  given  pastoral  charge,  to  be  succeeded  in 
1752  by  Laurence  Nyberg,  whilom  Lutheran  minister  in  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania,  who  had  joined  the  Brethren  there  in 
connection  with  the  effort  at  Christian  union  undertaken  by  the 
"Pennsylvania  Synod." 

Meantime  the  itineracy  in  the  north  of  Ireland  was  gradually 
widening  its  scope.  By  1752,  with  the  assistance  of  La  Trobe, 
Syms,  Caries,  Cooke,  Wade,  Knight,  Brampton,  Pugh,  Brown, 
Thome,  Hill  and  Watson,  Cennick  was  awakening  a  dead  Pres- 
byterianism  and  enlightening  superstitious  followers  of  Rome 
in  Counties  Cavan,  Monaghan,  Armagh,  Down,  Antrim,  Derry, 
and  Tyrone.  Gloonen,  a  few  miles  northeast  of  Lough  Beg; 
Ballinderry,  east  of  the  southern  end  of  Lough  Neagh  and 


l62 


A  HISTORY  OF 


about  eight  miles  west  of  Lisburn ;  Drumargan,  near  Rich  Hill, 
and  a  few  miles  southeast  of  Armagh;  and  Cootehill,  on  the 
Analee  River,  and  on  the  borders  of  Monaghan  and  Cavan,  were 
the  chief  centers  of  the  itineracy  at  this  time.  That  there  was 
a  famine  of  gospel-preaching,  and  that  the  people  hungered  for 
the  Word  of  God  appears  from  the  thronging  of  vast  audiences 
to  listen  to  the  Brethren.  Their  wayside,  open-air  services 
were  often  attended  by  more  than  a  thousand  persons ;  and  by 
the  middle  of  the  decade  under  consideration  preaching- 
appointments  existed  at  from  fifty-five  to  sixty  places.  More- 
over, permanence  began  to  be  sought  by  the  erection  of  places 
of  worship  and  ministers'  houses.  At  Gloonen,  for  example, 
a  chapel  was  consecrated  on  November  25,  1750,  where  Pugh 
and  his  family  had  been  living  since  May,  and  where  Caries 
and  Syms  as  well  as  Cennick  now  joined  him.  The  next  years 
witnessed  the  erection  of  chapels  at  Grogan,  Lisnamarra, 
Cootehill,  Kilkeel,  Derryscallop,  BaUinderry  and  Ballymena, 
though  in  several  instances  the  insecure  terms  of  possession, 
owing  to  the  short  period  of  the  lease  of  the  land,  later  neces- 
sitated a  removal  to  a  settlement  in  the  vicinity.  This 
was  the  case  with  Grogan,  the  congregation  here  being 
ultimately  merged  into  that  at  BaUinderry,  and  also  with  Lis- 
namarra, whose  people  removed  to  Gracehill  in  1767. 

Characteristic  of  the  general  service  rendered  to  the  cause 
of  public  morality  by  the  Brethren,  whose  effective  presenta- 
tion of  the  gospel  of  free  grace  was  laying  hold  of  the  hearts 
of  hundreds,  and  especially  important  on  account  of  its  future 
permanent  results,  had  been  the  visit  paid  by  Cennick  to  BaUin- 
derry, in  County  Antrim,  in  October,  1750.  The  neighborhood 
was  notorious  for  the  careless,  reckless  depravity  of  the  masses. 
Here  cock-fighting,  gambling  and  dissolute  living  found  abun- 
dant patronage.  Services  at  first  being  held  in  private  houses, 
the  throng  of  auditors  soon  became  so  great  that  recourse  was 
had  to  a  cock-pit  or  the  open  air.  The  Spirit  of  God  moved 
mightily  upon  the  hearts  of  some  of  the  former  champions  of 
vice.  A  society  was  formed,  and  the  erection  of  a  church  being 
desired,  an  acre  of  waste  land  including  and  about  the  above- 
mentioned  cock-pit  was  leased.  At  times  as  many  as  fifty  men 
gave  their  labor  for  the  erection  of  the  place  of  worship.  It 
was  consecrated  by  Cennick  on  Christmas  Day  (Old  Style), 
1751,  its  dimensions  being  63x42  feet.     When  Bohler  visited 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


163 


the  place  next  year  he  expressed  his  signal  satisfaction,  and 
described  the  awakening  as  the  most  considerable  which  had 
taken  place  in  the  north  of  Ireland  under  Cennick's  ministra- 
tions. The  usual  audiences  averaged  five  hundred  persons  and 
more  than  filled  the  place  of  worship. 

It  would  have  been  a  marvel,  however,  had  nothing  occurred 
to  ruffle  the  peaceful  progress  of  af¥airs.  In  the  same  year  dis- 
harmony, somewhat  akin  to  the  former  manifestations  in  York- 
shire, in  which  Viney  had  figured  prominently,  began  to  mani- 
fest itself  in  Dublin,  the  dissatisfaction  being  directed  against 
the  liturgical  forms  which  were  being  introduced.  Hence  in 
1753  Toltschig  was  sent  to  assist  La  Trobe  in  allaying  the 
trouble,  and  have  general  oversight  of  the  operations  in  Ire- 
land. His  reputation  for  cautious  prudence  soon  justified  the 
appointment.  The  erection  of  a  new  place  of  worship  on 
Bishop  street,  and  its  consecration  at  the  end  of  November, 
1754,  followed.  A  school  for  girls  had  been  commenced  in  the 
capital  in  1753,  and  estabUshments  for  the  two  unmarried  choirs 
set  in  order  in  1752. 

In  England  also  large  auditories  attended  the  preaching  of 
the  Brethren's  itinerants  at  the  commencement  of  the  decade. 
Ockbrook  attained  new  importance  on  September  24,  1750, 
through  the  formal  organization  of  a  congregation  there  by 
Bishop  Bohler,  the  consecration  of  the  church  taking  place 
on  April  5,  1752.  Henceforth  it  became  the  center  of  opera- 
tions in  Derby,  Nottingham  and  Leicestershire.  The  year  1751 
was  signalized,  moreover,  by  the  erection  of  church-edifices  at 
Gomersal  in  Yorkshire,  Dukinfield  in  Cheshire,  and  in  Bed- 
ford ;  the  opening  of  a  hall  for  purposes  of  worship  at  Haver- 
fordwest in  Wales ;  the  special  impetus  given  to  the  Leominster 
District  by  Cennick,  Thorne,  Syms  and  others ;  the  development 
of  the  Wiltshire  group  by  Francis  Okely,  Schlicht,  Parminter, 
Cooke  and  Miinster ;  and  by  the  securing  of  a  house  at  Mirfield 
in  Yorkshire  for  stated  services. 

When  in  May,  1752,  a  British  synod  was  convened  at  Ingate- 
stone  Hall,  it  was  reported  that  in  London  the  commencement 
of  financial  difficulties  was  causing  some  defections,  but  that 
in  Yorkshire  the  people  were  streaming  to  the  Brethren. 

As  yet  the  religious  movement  in  which  the  Brethren's 
agency  was  chiefl}^  prominent  appeared  to  be  still  in  a  forma- 
tive state.    Whether  the  members  of  the  various  societies  or- 


164 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ganized  by  them  should  be  regarded  as  members  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  or  not  was  a  question  left  open  until  the  succeeding 
synod.  It  was,  however,  resolved  to  introduce  the  use  of  the 
Moravian  Litany  in  connection  with  the  stated  preaching  ser- 
vices, and  a  desire  was  expressed  that  a  hymn-book  be  pub- 
lished for  the  use  of  the  English  Brethren,  SchHcht  having  pre- 
viously compiled  a  collection.  The  two  synods  of  the  year 
1754,  in  May  and  in  November,  formally  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  work  had  assumed  such  proportions  that  its  distinct 
denominational  character  must  be  admitted,  and  drew  the  line 
of  demarkation  between  the  "societies"  and  "congregations" 
in  full  fellowship  with  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  on  the  basis  of  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments  in  the  latter.  General  regula- 
tions and  local  statutes  and  a  brotherly  agreement,  as  the  bond 
uniting  the  members  of  the  local  organizations  as  such  and 
cementing  their  union  with  the  entire  church,  were  also  formu- 
lated. At  the  synod  in  November,  moreover,  Kingswood  and 
Bristol  were  admitted  into  the  circle  of  the  congregations. 
John  Gambold  was  elected  a  bishop  of  the  Unity,  and  received 
consecration  at  the  hands  of  Bishops  John  de  Watteville, 
Leonard  Dober  and  John  Nitschmann.  Whilst  his  immediate 
sphere  of  activity  was  not  changed,  in  addition  to  his  pastorate 
in  London,  and  his  participation  in  the  general  oversight. 
Bishop  Gambold  also  devoted  his  time  and  talents  to  literary 
labors  in  behalf  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Britain. 

Meanwhile  Count  Zinzendorf  had  engaged  in  an  important 
tour  of  inspection,  from  June  28  to  August  22.  Proceeding 
first  to  the  west,  and  visiting  Wiltshire,  Bath  and  Bristol,  by 
way  of  Bedford  and  the  Midlands,  he  sought  the  flourishing 
sphere  of  activity  in  Yorkshire.  Here  upwards  of  four  thou- 
sand persons  were  now  members  of  the  societies  affiliated  with 
the  Brethren,  and  more  than  seventy  preaching-places  were 
regularly  supplied.  At  Fulneck  between  eighty  and  ninety  per- 
sons occupied  the  choir  houses.  This  settlement,  in  addition 
to  the  various  trades  carried  on  in  these  establishments,  was 
the  center  of  the  cloth-weaving  industry  commenced  for  the 
church  in  1745  by  James  Charlesworth,  the  warden,  unfortu- 
nately a  source  of  entanglement  through  Gomez  Serra,  but  now 
a  means  of  employment  for  a  large  number  of  members.  The 
rocky  hill-side  and  swampy  valley  began  to  assume  an  aspect 
of  bloom  and  fruitage  and  pleasant  shade.    In  the  previous  year 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


165 


the  church  boarding  schools,  which  have  since  spread  the  fame 
of  Fulneck  throughout  the  United  Kingdom,  had  begun  their 
career  of  signal  usefulness.  And  now  through  Charlesworth, 
the  Count  on  August  10  effected  a  settlement  with  Ingham,  the 
former  owner  of  the  property.  In  short,  the  visit  to  the  York- 
shire '"plan,"  by  its  robust  enthusiasm  and  sturdy  vigor,  must 
have  exceedingly  comforted  the  Count,  hedged  in  with  distress 
as  he  now  was.  Here  he  saw  an  English  counterpart  of 
Herrnhut. 

Next  year,  in  accordance  with  the  decisions  of  the  synod,  the 
societies  at  Bristol  and  Kingswood  were  formally  organized  as 
congregations,  in  January  and  May,  respectively.  In  April  Pud- 
sey,  Gomersal,  Wyke  and  Dukinfield  were  added  to  the  list. 
The  last  named  became  the  center  of  operations  in  Cheshire  and 
Lancashire,  and  for  a  period  the  fervent  and  able  preaching  of 
Francis  Okely  here  and  at  his  eight  other  preaching-places  drew 
large  audiences,  hearers  coming  from  the  towns  of  Ashton, 
Stockport  and  Manchester,  and  becoming  in  turn  the  nuclei  of 
new  beginnings  in  their  own  vicinity.  So,  too,  in  the  immedi- 
ately ensuing  years  George  Traneker  labored  with  signal  ac- 
ceptance as  Gussenbauer's  successor  at  Fulneck.  Similarly 
also,  from  Ockbrook  Ockerhausen  and  after  1757  Miinster  and 
Parminter  ministered  to  inquiring  souls  at  Eaton,  Notting- 
ham, Belper,  Codnor,  Matlock,  Wolverhampton,  Sheffield,  Duf- 
field.  Dale  and  a  number  of  other  towns  and  villages.  The 
financial  distresses  had  not  shattered  the  confidence  reposed  in 
the  Brethren  by  the  people  of  the  north,  however  disastrously 
the  effect  may  have  been  felt  in  London.  The  more  gratifying 
must  this  have  been  in  the  face  of  the  most  unfraternal  efforts 
put  forth  by  Whitefield,  amongst  the  other  controversial  oppo- 
nents in  England,  to  discredit  the  Brethren.  Friends  like  Lord 
Granville  and  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Worcester  had,  in- 
deed, counseled  that  the  unworthy  and  slanderous  attack  be 
left  to  fall  without  reply  by  the  weight  of  its  own  contemptible 
rancor.  Yet,  being  accompanied  by  other  screeds  of  a  similar 
nature  from  various  pens,  the  wonder  had  been  that  the  appeal 
to  narrow  national  prejudices  had  not  been  more  effective.  As 
it  was,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  it  did  not  work  unfavor- 
ably upon  the  mind  of  Whitefield's  former  associate,  the  bril- 
liant Cennick,  whose  career  was  cut  short  by  fever  all  too  soon, 
at  London,  on  July  4,  1755,  only  thirty-seven  years  of  age. 


A  HISTORY  OF 


With  the  removal  of  Zinzendorf  and  the  Jungerhaus  from 
I-ondon  to  the  Continent,  in  March,  1755,  Frederick  von  Mar- 
schall  and  Benjamin  La  Trobe  and  Peter  Bohler  stood  at  the 
head  of  affairs  in  the  British  Province,  v^^ith  Toltschig  as  their 
associate  in  Ireland.  Bohler's  tour  of  visitation,  now  under- 
taken, disclosed  a  good  spirit.  Special  interest  was  manifested 
in  Bedford  in  support  of  the  mission  recently  begun  in  Jamaica. 
Haverfordwest,  in  Wales,  requested  recognition  as  a  congre- 
gation. The  Yorkshire  evangelistic  efforts  were  reported  to 
be  flourishing  under  Traneker's  direction  and  the  industrial  un- 
dertakings gave  like  promise  under  Charlesworth. 

But  overagainst  all  this,  and  overagainst  the  encouraging 
liberality  of  the  English  members  of  the  Unity,  who  had  con- 
tributed about  $25,000  towards  the  liquidation  of  the  church's 
debts  by  the  year  1757,  it  began  to  become  apparent  that  as  an 
organization  the  Unity  in  England  was  in  danger  of  drifting 
into  isolation,  not  being  in  touch  with  other  churches  of  the 
land,  but  becoming  more  and  more  closely  connected  with  the 
Brethren  in  Germany.  Apparently  the  demands  of  national  life 
and  the  requirements  of  national  characteristics  were  not  taken 
into  account  by  the  leaders  of  the  Unity.  In  June,  1759,  for  ex- 
ample, when  Bishop  Gambold  wrote  to  Count  Zinzendorf  with 
regard  to  overtures  made  by  the  Rev.  Howell  Harris,  expres- 
sive of  a  desire  to  promote  some  sort  of  mutual  understanding, 
and,  if  possible,  union  of  activity  and  operations  between  the 
Brethren  and  the  Methodists,  the  Count  expressed  his  complete 
disapproval.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
the  new  Choreinrichtiingcn,  with  regard  to  which  the  Count  en- 
tertained particular  desires,  were  calculated  to  promote  the 
work  of  the  Unity  in  Britain. 

Meantime,  in  Ireland  Toltschig's  conservatively  progressive 
administration  had  been  bearing  good  fruits.  Cross  Hills,  Kil- 
warlin,  Glenavy,  Ballinderry,  Artrea  and  Drumargan  had  been 
the  scenes  of  special  expansion  and  preparations  for  perma- 
nence, through  the  formation  of  congregations  and  the  erection 
of  churches.  Drumargan,  in  Armagh,  permanently  organized 
in  October,  1757,  had  been  intended  for  a  complete  "settlement." 
In  addition  to  the  place  of  worship  and  the  minister's  house, 
establishments  for  the  choirs  were  provided,  and  till  towards 
the  end  of  the  century  the  place  was  maintained  with  fluctuat- 
ing fortunes.     More  fortunate,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


167 


transfer  of  the  congregation  at  Gloonen,  where  the  short  lease 
of  the  property  rendered  all  hope  of  permanence  nugatory,  to 
the  town  of  Ballykennedy,  not  far  away.  Here  in  December, 
1758,  two  hundred  acres  were  secured  by  Horne,  as  represen- 
tative of  the  Brethren,  from  Charles  O'Neill  on  perpetual  lease. 
On  November  7,  1760,  with  the  completion  of  houses  for 
the  choirs,  the  settlement  was  consecrated,  and  received  the 
name  of  Gracehill.  This  congregation  became  the  Fulneck  of 
Ireland,  and  here  for  many  years  Horne  labored  with  marked 
acceptance.  Its  well-known  schools  belong,  however,  to  a  later 
period. 


i68 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  ECONOMY  IN  AMERICA,  I748-I762. 

With  Strenuous  perseverance  the  ideal  of  Christian  union 
continued  to  be  pursued  by  the  Brethren  in  America  for  almost 
six  years  after  the  arrival  of  Miihlenberg  made  it  plain  to  some 
of  themselves  as  well  as  to  other  thoughtful  observers  of  the 
religious  Hfe  of  the  colonists,  that  the  denominational  lines  of 
Europe  must  have  their  counterpart  in  America.  They  could 
not  forever  hold  out  against  the  logic  of  events.  They  might 
gather  representatives  of  all  sorts  of  faiths  for  common  deliber- 
ation in  behalf  of  unchurched  colonists  and  heathen  Indians, 

I'  twelve  denominations  being  recognized,  for  example,  amongst 
the  members  of  the  "Pennsylvania  Synod"  convened  in  the 
court-house  at  Lancaster  in  1745.    They  might  record  resolu- 
^/  tions  that  Bethlehem  was  to  be  regarded  not  as  a  denomina- 
tional  settlement,  but  as  the  home  of  a  missionary  society ;  and 
that  the  congregations  which  were  organized  and  supplied  with 
ministers  and  school-masters  as  a  result  of  the  "Pennsylvania 
Synods"  were  to  be  considered  as  attached  to  no  denomination. 
In  point  of  fact,  however,  in  spite  of  their  purposes  they  could 
^-not  prevent  the  synods  from  assuming  a  distinctively  Moravian 
cast.    The  so-called  undenominational  congregations  inevitably 
became  Moravian,  even  though  contrary  to  the  intention  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Moravian  Church.    The  very  ministers  who  exer- 
>cised  greatest  influence  in  the  "Pennsylvania  Synods,"  although 
theoretically  classified  into  denominational  consistories  subor- 
dinate to  the  confederated  body,  as  a  matter  of  fact  were  actu- 
ally and  in  reality  Moravians ;  for  their  former  associates  repu- 
-diated  them  and  ceased  to  have  fellowship  with  them.  Hence 
they  themselves  finally  realized  the  necessity  of  abandoning  the 
Y-pleasing  hope  of  federated  denominational  cooperation. 

This  abandonment  of  the  original  design  and  the  adoption  of 
arrangements  for  the  distinct  organization  of  the  Brethren's 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Church  as  such  were  the  chief  transactions  of  a  synod  held  at 
Bethlehem  in  October,  1748,  in  connection  with  an  official  visits 
on  the  part  of  Bishop  John  de  Watteville,  who  unfortunately  at 
this  time  leaned  to  the  religious^  romanticism  typical  of  the  Wet- 
teravian  era,  already  represented  in  America  by  Cammerhof. 
The  influence  of  the  unhealthy  spirit  of  the  temporary  fanati- 
cism is  undeniably  apparent  in  connection  with  the  transactions 
of  the  synod,  when  the  extravagant  idea  that  "we  are  the  visible  > 
body  of  the  Lord"  was  sufifered  to  be  promulgated.    It  was  an- 
nounced that  the  denominational  regulations  adopted  in  recent 
years  by  the  synods  in  Germany  must  obtain  in  the  congrega- 
tions in  America  which  wished  to  be  regarded  as  in  fellowship 
with  the  Brethren.    The  chief  test  was  a  recognition  of  the  doc-^ 
trine  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  Church  and 
Chief  Elder  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  particular.  During 
the  ensuing  weeks  De  Watteville  visited  the  principal  scenes  of 
the  recent  evangelistic  activity.    The  names  of  those  who  were 
willing  to  subscribe  to  the  distinctive  tenet  in  connection  with 
celebrating  the  Lord's  supper  as  members  of  the  church  were 
finally  communicated  at  a  purely  denominational  synod  held  >t 
in  Bethlehem  in  January,  1749.    In  thirty-one  localities,  exclu-:*; 
sive  of  the  missions  amongst  the  Indians,  Moravian  congrega- 
tions were  accordingly  organized.    These  were  situated  in  seven  - 
of  the  thirteen  colonies,  though  the  majority  were  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Spangenberg  was  retired  from  his  position  of  chief-executive, - 
Bishop  John  Nitschmann,  sr.,  taking  his  place.  But  the  change 
did  not  last  long.  On  the  death  of  his  chief  assistant,  Cam- 
merhof, from  consumption  contracted  by  exposure  during  a 
journey  to  the  Iroquois  capital,  Onondaga,  Nitschmann  was_^ 
recalled  to  Europe,  and  the  man  was  restored  who  had  made 
the  sphere  so  peculiarly  his  own.  With  him  as  a  colleague  hav- 
ing special  supervision  of  the  activity  in  Lancaster,  Berks,  Leb- 
anon and  York  Counties,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  Maryland, 
came  Bishop  Matthew  Hehl,  an  alumnus  of  Tiibingen,  who  had  - 
been  in  charge  of  the  schools  at  Herrnhut  for  a  number  of  years. 
Their  partnership  was  to  be  more  congenial  than  the  former 
one  with  Cammerhof.  They  arrived  at  New  York  on  Decem- 
ber 4.  Whatever  had  been  the  cause  of  his  removal  from  office. 
Brother  "Joseph"  was  now  himself  again.  A  synod,  convened 
on  the  22d,  gave  him  opportunity  to  take  up  the  thread  of 


A  HISTORY  OF 


affairs.  A  visitation  of  the  mission  stations  in  the  Indian  coun- 
try followed.  Work  was  before  him  in  connection  with  the  set- 
tlement congregations  which  might  have  taxed  the  most  skillful 
administrator.  To  the  delicate  task  of  removing  the  traces  and 
effects  of  the  "Time  of  Sifting"  was  added  the  arduous  respon- 
sibility of  supervising  externals  in  the  most  economical  and  yet 
advantageous  manner;  for  the  catastrophe  in  Wetteravia  and 
the  financial  embarrassment  of  the  church  in  Europe  necessi- 
tated the  most  complete  self-support  in  America.  Moreover, 
provision  must  be  made  for  the  reception  of  large  companies  of 
new  colonists. 

Scarcely  were  affairs  adjusted  when  an  expedition  involving 
considerable  hardship  and  some  danger  loomed  up.  In  con- 
nection with  the  British  negotiations  of  1749  Lord  Granville, 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  had  offered  at  reason- 
able terms  a  tract  of  land  owned  by  him  in  North  Carolina.  A 
'three-fold  purpose  swayed  Zinzendorf  and  his  associates  in  en- 
tertaining thoughts  of  purchase :  evangelization  amongst  the 
colonists,  missionary  efforts  amongst  the  Cherokees,  Catawbas, 
Creeks  and  Chickasaws,  and  the  acquirement  of  a  large  terri- 
tory wherein  the  Brethren  might  exercise  undisputed  sway  and 
live  according  to  conscience  with  no  fear  of  disturbance.  In 
fthe  heart  of  this  territory  of  one  hundred  thousand  acres  a  town 
^vas  to  be  laid  out,  houses  built  for  the  members  of  the  various 
choirs,  and  also  a  training-school  for  ministers  and  mission- 
aries and  the  residences  of  the  members  of  the  executive  board. 
Around  this  town  the  land  was  to  be  parcelled  out  to  farmers 
who  were  members  of  the  church.  Instead  of  being  deterred 
by  the  financial  straits,  the  leaders  believed  that  a  bold  and  con- 
spicuous operation  like  this  would  aid  in  restoring  credit. 

Accordingly  on  August  25,  1752,  Spangenberg,  with  his  old 
friend  Antes,  now  indeed  no  longer  a  Moravian,  Timothy  Hors- 
lield,  Joseph  Miiller,  Herman  Losch  and  John  Merk,  set  out 
from  Bethlehem  on  horseback.  On  September  10  they  reached 
Edenton,  North  Carolina,  where  they  consulted  with  the  agent 
of  Lord  Granville.  In  company  with  the  surveyor  of  the 
province  the  explorers  next  rode  to  the  Catawba  via  the  Indian 
town  of  Tuscaroras.  Attacks  of  fever  greatly  hampered  their 
progress.  In  fact,  Horsfield  had  to  be  left  with  Miiller  to  take 
care  of  him,  at  the  house  of  an  acquaintance.  Two  hunters 
were  now  engaged,  to  supply  them  with  food ;  and  thus  in  the 


JAMES  HUTTON 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


171 


latter  part  of  October  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  Catawba, 
about  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  Edenton.  Not  finding 
suitable  land  in  the  western  mountains  of  North  Carolina,  they 
retraced  their  steps  eastward  towards  the  Yadkin  valley,  and 
at  last  met  with  rolling  and  well-watered  woodland.  The  sur- 
veys were  completed  on  January  13,  1753.  In  May  Spangen-  , 
berg  reported  to  Zinzendorf  in  London,  and  strongly  advocated 
the  purchase  of  the  territory.  Terms  were  therefore  negotiated 
with  Mr.  Childs,  the  agent  of  Lord  Granville.  The  title  was 
vested  for  the  church  in  James  Hutton,  Secretary  of  the  Unity 
in  England,  in  trust,  the  purchase-money  being  largely  raised 
by  subscription  amongst  members  and  friends  of  the  church  in 
that  country.  Governor  Dupp,  of  North  Carolina,  under  in- 
structions from  Lord  Granville,  recognized  Wachovia,  as  the 
territory  was  named  after  Austrian  lands  belonging  to  the  Zin-  ^ 
zendorf  family,  to  be  the  Brethren's  special  diocese. 

Meantime,  whilst  Spangenberg  was  still  in  England,  colonists, 
chiefly  unmarried  men,  left  Bethlehem  for  the  south,  Bernard 
Adam  Grube,  a  friend  of  John  de  Watteville  from  boyhood, 
going  as  their  minister,  Jacob  Losch  as  warden,  and  John  Mar- 
tin Kalberlahn  as  surgeon  and  physician.  The  rest  followed 
trades  needful  for  pioneer  life  in  the  wilds.  They  reached  their 
destination  on  November  17,  1753,  and  commenced  the  village 
of  Bethabara,  in  the  present  Forsyth  Coimty.  Next  spring 
Grube  was  recalled  to  Bethlehem,  and  John  Jacob  Fries,  a  for- 
mer student  of  theology  at  Copenhagen  and  lately  professor  in 
the  seminary  at  Barby,  succeeded  him  as  spiritual  adviser. 
Soon  afterwards  Peter  Bohler  also  arrived  and  gave  the  place  n 
its  name,  significant  of  its  temporary  nature,  and  a  declaration 
that  the  purpose  to  found  a  central  town  had  not  been  aban-v 
doned.  Gradually  numbers  were  increased,  so  that  at  the  close 
of  1756  the  new  settlement  had  sixty-five  inhabitants. 

In  the  year  of  Spangenberg's  return  from  making  his  report, 
1754,  a  similar  task  was  undertaken  in  Lancaster  County, 
Pennsylvania,  near  the  old  preaching  station  of  Warwick.  In 
August  George  Klein  for  a  nominal  consideration  transferred 
to  the  church  his  farm  of  nearly  five  hundred  acres  as  the  site 
of  a  settlement,  which  should  be  Bishop  Hehl's  place  of  resi- 
dence in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  a  recent  synod.  It  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Lititz  in  June  of  the  next  year  at  the  sug- 


1/2 


A  HISTORY  OF 


gestion  of  Zinzendorf,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  original 
home  of  the  Unity. 

Meantime  the  older  settlements  were  steadily  developing 
their  resources  and  industries,  and  were  receiving  repeated  ac- 
cessions from  Europe.  Companies  of  colonists  came  under  the 
lead  of  Lawatsch  and  Toltschig  in  1752;  of  Bohler  in  1753,  he 
taking  Spangenberg's  place  whilst  abroad  reporting  concerning 
Carolina ;  of  Spangenberg,  when  returning  in  1754;  of  Nathanael 
Seidel  and  Bohler  in  1754,  and  of  Louis  Weiss  and  Gottlieb 
Petzold  in  1755. 

New  tracts  of  land  were  steadily  acquired,  roads  were  con- 
structed, and  the  untamed  wilderness  yielded  to  the  touch  of 
man.    The  missions  on  the  northern  and  southern  continents 
and  on  the  islands  were  diligently  prosecuted. 
^     But  a  time  of  severe  test  was  approaching.    Peaceful  Beth- 
1  lehem  was  to  be  drawn  into  the  turbulence  of  the  contest  be- 
jl  tween  England  and  France  for  supremacy  in  America.  The 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelie  had  been  of  practical  significance  here 
only  as  suited  the  governors  and  military  commanders  of  the 
various  provinces.    On  the  St.  Lawrence  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio  French  inroads  caused  continual  alarms.     Fort  Le 
Boeuf  had  been  the  subject  of  diplomatic  remonstrance  on  the 
part  of  Governor  Dunwiddie  of  Virginia  and  the  occasion  of 
Washington's  first  services  to  his  country.    Colonel  Fry's  ad- 
vance in  the  spring  of  1754  had  marked  the  commencement  of 
actual  hostilities.    Fort  Du  Quesne  had  been  completed  at  the 
junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela  Rivers.    Against  it 
Braddock  had  been  sent  by  the  crown.    Large  bodies  of  Indians 
<,  had  made  common  cause  with  the  French.    The  dress  parade 
of  the  magnificently  self-confident  but  stubbornly  indocile  regu- 
lars had  merged  into  demoralization  and  slaughter  and  rout  be- 
neath the  crack  of  unseen  savage  guns  in  the  rank  density  of 
the  walnut  forest  on  that  fatal  July  9,  and  Braddock  lay  buried 
'  at  Great  Meadows. 

An  immediate  effect  was  the  outbreak  of  repeated  atrocities 
along  the  western  frontier  of  Pennsylvania.  The  settlements 
in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna  were  devastated  by  tomahawk 
and  torch.  Then  massacres  along  the  Swatara  and  along  the 
line  of  the  Blue  Mountains  spread  the  alarm.  On  November  24 
the  worst  fears  were  realized  at  the  Gnadenhiitten  mission  sta- 
tion on  the  Mahoni.    As  evening  shadows  lengthened  and  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


occupants  of  the  mission-house  were  gathered  for  their  frugal 
evening  meal,  the  dreaded  war-whoops  suddenly  rang  out  and 
the  reports  of  fire-arms  reechoed  among  the  hills.    When  the 
startled  men  and  women  darted  from  the  lower  story  to  the 
room  above,  and  barricaded  its  entrance,  fire  was  appHed  to 
the  house.    Those  who  fied  from  the  flames  by  leaping  from 
the  windows  were  pierced  by  bullets  or  slashed  by  tomahawks. 
Out  of  fifteen  only  four  persons  escaped  to  tell  the  manner  of  ^ 
their  companion's  martyrdom.     When  the  Indian  converts  in 
their  village  across  the  Lehigh,  less  than  a  mile  away,  gathered 
around  their  teachers  and  of?ered  at  once  to  make  reprisals  on 
the  enemy,  they  were  restrained  by  the  reminder  that  they  were 
the  servants  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.    Scattering  to  the  woods, 
they  and  their  teachers  gradually  reassembled  at  Bethlehem./ 
The  raiders  soon  left  only  ashes  and  charred  fragments  to  tell 
where  once  the  church  and  school  and  dwellings  had  stood. 
For  more  than  a  year  the  "brown  hearts"  were  harbored  by  ^ 
their  brethren  at  Bethlehem.     Then  in  view  of  the  apparent 
hopelessness  of  peace,  they  commenced  to  build  a  new  village, 
known  as  Nain,  up  the  river  about  a  mile  from  Bethlehem,  and- 
a  second  village,  Wechquadnach,  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  ' 
on  a  tributary  of  the  Lehigh. 

Dreadful  as  were  the  experiences  of  that  24th  of  November 
on  the  Mahoni,  they  did  not  take  the  Brethren  wholly  by  sur- 
prise ;  for  on  the  12th  a  letter  had  been  received  from  the  mis- 
sionary post  at  Wyoming,  and  Schmick  and  Frey,  from  Sha- 
mokin,  had  made  deposition  before  a  notary  with  regard  to  the 
facts  that  had  come  under  their  observation.  The  same  day 
the  Brethren  at  Bethlehem  had  also  put  on  record  their  senti- 
ments :  "If  it  must  be  so,  it  is  better  that  a  Brother  should  die 
at  his  post  than  to  withdraw  and  have  a  single  soul  thus  suflferj 
loss."  In  accordance  with  this  sentiment  John  Gattermeyer, 
one  of  the  victims  of  the  massacre,  had  not  hesitated  to  accept 
a  call  to  the  point  of  danger  only  seven  days  before  he  gained 
the  martyr's  crown. 

Now  the  settlements  themselves  were  seriously  threatened. 
No  precaution  could  be  deemed  superfluous.  At  Bethlehem  a  k 
regular  system  of  patrol  and  sentry-duty  was  at  once  estab- 
lished. The  children  from  the  other  afiihated  places  were  gath- 
ered into  a  house  central  in  location  and  easily  defensible.  The 
women  of  the  more  exposed  villages  were  also  removed  to  Beth- 


174 


A  HISTORY  OF 


^'lehem.    In  a  few  weeks  the  town  was  surrounded  with  a  sub- 

f  stantial  stockade,  and  two  swivel-guns  mounted.    Laborers  in 

'  the  fields  were  attended  by  armed  guards.  Should  a  skulking 
hostile  be  discovered  the  pickets  had  orders  to  shoot  at  once — 
^but  to  aim  only  at  the  spy's  limbs,  to  frighten  him  off,  not  to 
kill  him.  Fugitive  settlers  of  various  faiths  and  nationaUties 
streamed  from  the  surrounding  country  into  the  Moravian 
towns,  as  to  cities  of  refuge,  by  December  19,  187  being  wel- 
comed in  Nazareth  alone.  On  the  30th  it  was  reported  that 
-1 100  Indians  and  French  were  on  their  way  to  attack  Bethlehem 

~  and  Nazareth  on  New  Year's  Day.  Though  the  number  had 
been  exaggerated,  on  that  day  three  assaults  were  made — near 
Gnadenhiitten  upon  a  small  body  of  colonial  troops,  at  the  "Irish 
Settlement"  and  near  Christianspring.  Yet  when  on  January  5 
volunteers  were  called  for  in  order  to  take  a  letter  to  the  Shaw- 
nese  war-chief.  Paxnous,  whose  wife  was  a  convert  of  the  mis- 
sion, ten  men  stepped  forth.  That  the  fearlessness  and  good 
faith  of  the  Moravians  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  had  due 
moral  effect  upon  the  savages  appears  from  their  declaration, 
'^'If  the  Great  God  were  not  the  God  of  the  Brethren,  we  should 
^have  made  an  end  of  the  whites." 

Franklin,  on  visiting  Bethlehem,  was  surprised  to  find  the 
place  in  so  good  a  state  of  defense,  and  to  perceive  the  methodic 

*way  in  which  these  non-combatants  kept  watch  and  ward.  Yet 
it  ought  not  to  have  been  difficult  for  a  philosopher  to  discrim- 
inate between  professional  participation  in  military  operations 
of  an  aggressive  character  and  preparation  for  self-defense 
against  savages  in  order  that  bloodshed  might  be  averted  by  the 
very  thoroughness  of  the  preparation.  Moreover  the  people  of 
Bethlehem  did  not  in  the  last  resort  place  their  hopes  in  the  use 
of  arms.  "In  the  present  state  of  affairs  the  Saviour  is  our  best 
reliance,"  they  declared  just  after  the  massacre  on  the  Mahoni. 
Nor  did  He  put  them  to  shame.    Though  the  hostiles  encamped 

(.  within  six  miles  of  Nazareth,  the  settlements  escaped  the  neces- 
sity of  putting  their  precautionary  measures  to  the  test  of  an 
actual  encounter. 

Meanwhile  they  had  their  enemies  amongst  a  class  of  whites 

f  whose  opportunity  for  ill-gotten  gains  they  had  marred.  Slan- 
derously denounced  as  in  league  with  the  French  and  Indians, 

I,  on  the  strength  of  a  forged  letter  which  was  alleged  to  have  been 
intercepted  on  its  way  to  Quebec,  they  had  been  exposed  to  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


opprobrium  of  the  public  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day.  In 
Jersey  public  proclamation  had  been  made  with  beat  of  drum,  K 
that  Bethlehem  and  its  filials  must  be  razed  to  the  ground  and 
its  people  slain.  Nor  did  even  the  ruin  of  a  flourishing  mission 
and  the  loss  of  lives  wholly  dissipate  the  angry  spirit.  But  the 
Brethren  were  also  the  object  of  special  enmity  on  the  part  of 
the  Indians  who  had  donned  the  war  paint,  because  the  influ- 
ence of  the  missionaries  baffled  their  endeavor  to  secure  the  alli-y 
ance  of  the  converted  Delawares.  Teedyeuscung,  the  leader  of 
the  hostiles,  as  one  of  their  renegade  converts  in  particular  bore 
them  no  good-will.  Yet  in  July,  1756,  and  in  October,  1758, 
when  this  redoubtable  warrior  met  Governors  Morris  and  Den- 
nis at  Easton  to  treat  for  peace  in  the  name  of  the  Delawares, 
the  Brethren  proved  of  decided  service  in  furthering  negotia- 
tions. And  in  1758  the  missionary  Post,  as  agent  of  the  gov- 
ernment, lent  valuable  aid  in  allaying  hostility  and  in  promot- 
ing the  security  of  the  frontier,  in  connection  with  his  journey 
to  the  Ohio. 

During  the  same  years  the  southern  settlement,  Bethabara, 
experienced  the  inconveniences  of  Indian  war.  Surrounded  by 
a  stockade,  the  place  became  known  to  other  settlers  as  the 
"Dutch  Fort."  Thither  Hkewise  many  refugees  found  their  way 
from  the  open  country,  many  of  them  later  to  seek  permanent 
fellowship  with  those  who  received  them  in  so  friendly  and 
Christian  a  spirit.  For  their  accommodation  another  settle- 
ment was  begun  in  the  vicinity.  It  received  the  name  of 
Bethania. 

Nowhere  was  joy  more  universal  than  in  the  Moravian  vil- 
lages when  the  year  1759  ushered  in  an  era  of_peace.  This  was  >■ 
particularly  the  case  at  Nain.  Prosperity  in  every  respect  char- 
acterized its  life.  It  became  the  center  of  attraction  for  large 
numbers  of  wondering  heathen,  and  thus  the  influence  of  the 
gospel  spread  mightily.  Amongst  the  rest  there  came  from 
Wyalusing  on  the  Susquehanna  a  notable  medicine-man,  and 
chief  of  the  Muncies,  Papunhank.  In  his  own  ignorant  way  he 
had  been  endeavoring  to  inculcate  morality.  As  a  sincere 
seeker  after  truth  he  now  yielded  to  the  power  of  Christ,  and 
though  not  yet  baptized  returned  home  changed  in  heart,  to 
testify  of  salvation.  The  growth  of  Nain  led  to  the  purchase  of 
■fourteen  hundred  acres  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  and  the 
■missionary  Gottlob  Senseman  removed  thither  in  April,  1760, 


176 


A  HISTORY  OF 


with  thirty  baptized  Indians.    So  Wechquetank  arose.  Hither 

?,  came  Papunhank  with  his  wife  and  thirty-three  followers  in 
search  of  more  Hght. 

Meanwhile  the  future  prince  of  American  missionaries,  David 
Zeisberger,  was  engaged  in  diligent  literary  labor,  to  secure  per- 
manence for  the  results  and  to  render  future  help  to  beginners 

Vn  the  work.  His  Iroquois  Grammar  and  Iroquois-German 
Dictionary,  for  which  materials  had  been  collected  at  Onon- 
daga, belong  to  this  period. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Count  Zinzendorf  reached  Pennsyl- 
vania on  August  22,  1760.  Radical  changes  followed.  Span- 
genberg  was  needed  in  Europe,  and  Bohler  followed  him  two 
years  after,  in  1762.  To  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel  and  Frederick 
William  von  Alarschall  were  assigned  the  superintendence  of 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  affairs  respectively. 

^  The  abolition  of  the  "Economy"  also  took  place.  Whilst  the 
gradual  working  out  of  the  alterations  therein  involved  required 
time,  June  20,  1762,  may  be  regarded  as  the  date  of  the  incep- 

'^tion  of  the  new  order  of  affairs. 

The  ownership  of  land  belonging  to  the  church  in  a  number 
of  instances  was  transferred  to  individuals,  and  in  other  in- 
stances the  rules  governing  its  use  were  affected.  The  original 
purchases  in  Pennsylvania  had  been  made  in  the  name  of 
various  agents  who  had  transferred  the  title  to  Spangenberg, 
Henry  Antes  and  David  Nitschmann,  as  "Joint  Tenants."  In 
the  year  1751  a  nominal  sale  had  been  effected,  by  which  Nitsch- 
•^mann  had  become  the  sole  proprietor,  who  had  given  a  written 
pledge  that  he  would  administer  the  property  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  for  the  good  of  the  church,  and  in  no  sense  for  personal 
ends.    On  his  death,  in  1759,  his  executors,  Spangenberg  and 

-Bohler,  sold  the  estates  to  Bishop  Seidel,  who  had  been  desig- 
nated by  the  church  as  the  next  proprietor,  and  who  assumed 
all  the  debts  and  encumbrances  on  the  same  in  lieu  of  purchase- 
money.  On  the  abrogation  of  the  "Economy"  members  who 
desired  to  do  so  bought  or  leased  from  the  church  on  their  per- 
sonal account  what  they  wished  of  the  land  and  of  the  stock  and 
fixtures  of  the  various  industries,  and  now  did  business  for 
<themselves  personally  and  in  their  own  names.  Yet  until  1771 
neither  the  individual  settlements  as  such,  nor  the  American 

i  division  of  the  church  as  a  whole,  owned  land  or  property.  This 
was  managed  and  business  enterprises  were  still  carried  on, 


(FATHER)    DAVID  NITSCHMANN. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


177 


for  the  benefit  of  the  Unity  at  large,  as  a  part  of  the  financial 
system  under  the  final  control  of  the  directing  board  in  Ger- 
many, which  apointed  its  various  agents  in  America.  Thus  a 
most  intricate  system  of  accounts  arose,  and  the  unfortunate 
tendency  was  confirmed,  which  regarded  the  congregations  in 
America  as  mere  outposts  of  the  organization  whose  vital  center 
was  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  In  consequence  the  natural 
development  of  the  American  Moravian  Church  was  much 
hampered.  -i  ■? 


178 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


MISSIONARY  UNDERTAKINGS  DURING  THE  LATTER  PART  OF  THE 
ZINZENDORFIAN  ERA. 

For  ardent  imaginative  minds  the  Orient  has  ever  possessed 
fascination.  To  this  fascination  Zinzendorf  was  no  stranger. 
Under  his  leadership  the  synod  of  Ebersdorf  in  1739  devoted 
particular  attention  to  the  East.  Prospective  missions  in  Ethi- 
opia, on  the  Madras  coast  of  India,  in  China,  in  Persia,  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  in  Wallachia,  were  discussed.  Gradin's  jour- 
ney to  Constantinople  in  1740,  to  renew  the  ancient  fellowship 
between  the  Unitas  Fratrum  and  the  Greek  Church,  was  in- 
tended as  a  step  towards  Oriental  missions.  It  resulted  in  little 
more  than  a  poHte  exchange  of  compliments.  A  severe  check 
was  received  when  Russia's  welcome  to  Lange,  Hirschel  and 
Kund,  who  were  on  their  way  to  China  and  MongoHa,  took  the 
form  of  close  imprisonment.  But  in  1747,  almost  coincident 
with  the  removal  of  their  fetters,  Christian  Frederick  William 
Hocker,  a  physician,  and  John  RiifTer,  a  surgeon,  went  forth 
as  misionaries  to  the  Guebres,  in  Eastern  Persia,  the  supposed 
descendants  of  the  Magi.  Joining  a  caravan  that  set  out  from 
the  coast  of  Syria  for  Bagdad,  the  two  intrepid  doctors  made 
their  way  to  Ispahan  by  the  end  of  November.  But  they  found 
it  impossible  to  penetrate  farther.  Twice  they  had  been  plun- 
dered by  Kurdish  robbers,  and  Hocker  had  been  severely 
wounded.  Now  they  learnt  that  most  of  the  Guebres  had  been 
massacred  or  exiled,  so  that  their  journey  was  rendered  pur- 
poseless. Hence,  in  June,  1748,  they  retraced  their  steps  by 
way  of  Bagdad,  Aleppo  and  Damietta.  A  third  attack  of  rob- 
bers had  to  be  endured.  At  Damietta  RiifFer  succumbed  to  the 
hardships  experienced,  July  26,  1749.  Hocker  reached  the 
home  church  on  February  8,  1750. 

Undeterred  by  what  he  had  encountered,  in  1752  he  returned 
to  Egypt  with  the  intention  of  proceeding  to  the  Copts  of  Abys- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


179 


sinia.  Promises  of  various  kinds  had  been  made  by  a  certain 
Count  D'Esneval,  who  was  in  the  service  of  the  Negus,  and 
claimed  to  be  empowered  to  secure  skilled  European  colonists. 
In  Cairo  Hocker  supported  himself  by  his  profession,  and  made 
use  of  the  time  to  familiarize  himself  with  Arabic.  His  repre- 
sentations procured  a  firman  from  the  Grand  Vizier  and  a  letter 
of  recommendation  from  the  Coptic  Patriarch,  Mark,  to  the 
Coptic  Metropolitan  of  Abyssinia ;  but  political  disturbances 
prevented  the  projected  journey.  Hence  he  returned  to  Europe 
in  1755- 

Next  year,  however,  he  once  more  established  himself  in 
Cairo,  together  with  George  Pilder,  a  young  student  of  the- 
ology. The  mission  in  Abyssinia  was  still  their  goal.  Circum- 
stances detained  them  in  Egypt  till  October,  1758,  when  pas- 
sage was  taken  in  an  Arab  vessel  sailing  on  the  Red  Sea. 
Wrecked  on  the  island  of  Hassani,  they  with  difficulty  made 
the  coast  of  Arabia  at  Dschidda,  not  far  from  Mecca,  but  lost 
their  valuable  medical  supplies.  This  necessitated  a  return  to 
Cairo  for  a  new  outfit,  a  journey  which  was  accomplished  amid 
all  sorts  of  perils.  Both  were  taken  seriously  sick,  so  that  Pil- 
der left  for  home  at  once,  and  Hocker  followed  in  1761. 

Eight  years  afterwards  the  indefatigable  Hocker  once  more 
sought  Egypt,  this  time  with  two  companions,  John  Henry 
Danke  and  John  Antes.  To  proceed  to  Abyssinia  was  impos- 
sible, owing  to  the  revolution  headed  by  the  Mameluke  com- 
mander, AH  Bey.  Hocker  practiced  his  profession,  and  Antes 
gained  a  livelihood  as  a  clock-maker.  To  preach  to  the  Moham- 
medans involved  a  risk  of  the  death  penalty.  But  a  commence- 
ment was  made  at  a  translation  of  the  Bible.  Danke  pushed 
on  to  a  Coptic  settlement  at  Benesse,  four  days'  journey  up 
the  Nile,  where  he  labored  with  considerable  acceptance  till  his 
death,  in  1772.  His  successor  was  H.  G.  Winiger,  whose  ser- 
vices amongst  the  Copts  at  Cairo  and  Benesse  continued  till 
the  misison  was  abandoned.  Hocker  died  in  1782.  The  harsh 
treatment  meted  out  to  the  missionaries  by  various  officials,  and 
especially  to  Antes,  who  was  fearfully  bastinadoed  by  a  cruel 
and  avaricious  bey  in  the  hope  of  thus  securing  money,  and 
absolute  inhibition  of  labor  amongst  Mohammedans  finally 
caused  the  synod  of  that  year  to  order  a  withdrawal  from  this 
field. 


i8o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  commencement  of  another  mission  in  the  East  took  its 
inception  from  a  very  different  quarter.  In  the  latter  part  of 
February,  1758,  the  attention  of  Count  Zinzendorf  was  directed 
towards  Iceland  by  an  article  which  appeared  in  an  Erlangen 
newspaper.  He  wrote  to  the  King  of  Denmark,  suggesting 
the  planting  of  a  Moravian  colony  on  that  island.  Count  von 
Moltke,  President  of  the  Danish  East  Indian  Company,  replied 
that  whilst  Iceland  did  not  offer  a  suitable  field  for  activity,  in 
the  East  Indies  it  was  otherwise,  and  that  the  King  would  favor 
a  mission  on  the  Nicobar  Islands.  Here  the  Danish  Company 
had  established  itself  two  years  earlier.  Upon  Zinzendorf's 
entertaining  this  suggestion  favorably,  and  requesting  permis- 
sion to  found  a  station  on  the  main-land,  at  Tranquebar,  as  a 
base  for  the  mission  proper,  his  desire  was  granted  and  re- 
ligious liberty  was  promised.  Accordingly  on  August  3,  1759, 
a  circular  was  issued  to  the  church,  calHng  for  men  and  means 
for  the  projected  undertaking.  Liberal  responses  were  re- 
ceived, Herrnhut  alone  contributing  two  thousand  thaler.  Four- 
teen unmarried  men  were  selected,  with  George  F.  Stahlmann 
as  their  leader.  Two  students  of  theology,  Adam  Volker  and 
Christian  Butler,  were  to  do  specific  missionary  work,  whilst 
the  rest,  eleven  of  whom  were  artisans  representing  various 
trades,  were  charged  with  the  maintenance  of  the  enterprise. 
They  reached  Tranquebar  on  July  2,  1760,  and  after  purchasing 
a  tract  of  cultivated  land  and  a  dwelling  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
town,  henceforth  named  Briidergarten,  they  settled  down  to 
self-support  by  the  cultivation  of  rice  and  the  prosecution  of 
their  trades.  Next  year  a  second  colony  came,  consisting  of 
a  number  of  families  under  the  leadership  of  N.  A.  Jaeschke, 
formerly  active  in  Wallachia.  But  he  and  his  wife  soon  suc- 
cumbed to  the  fatal  climate,  a  factor  sadly  prominent  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  mission. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  new  attempts,  notwithstanding  the 
financial  stringency.  Scarcely  had  Greenland  begun  to  actually 
yield  returns  when  its  neighbor  across  Davis  Straits  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  Brethren.  The  triangular  peninsula  to 
which  the  name  of  Labrador,  "Land  that  may  be  cultivated," 
bad  been  given  in  cynical  derision,  had  offered  even  fewer  in- 
ducements to  colonization.  A  peculiarly  dreary  region  it  surely 
was  and  is.  Stones  and  boulders,  varying  in  diameter  from  one 
to  twenty  feet,  cover  much  of  its  surface.    In  winter  the  mer- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


I8l 


cury  may  remain  for  a  considerable  period  thirty  degrees  below 
zero,  and  may  run  down  to  seventy.  Fruit  trees  are  not.  Here 
and  there  in  protected  valleys  scrubby  pines  and  birches  and 
aspen-poplars  venture  to  put  forth  an  apology  for  timber. 
Mosses  and  grasses  and  bright  flowers  take  advantage  of  the 
short  warm  summer ;  but  in  severity  the  climate  excells  even 
that  of  Greenland.  The  very  deer  and  bears  and  wolves  and 
foxes  have  a  hard  time  of  it,  for  the  snow  sometimes  lies  fifteen 
feet  deep.  Human  life  depends  chiefly  on  the  catch  of  cod-fish 
and  salmon  and  seal.  The  Eskimos  of  this  coast  bore  a  worse 
reputation  than  the  heathen  Greenlanders  for  treachery,  super- 
stition and  savage  ferocity.  Though  Cabot  had  touched  here 
in  1497  no  English  churchman  had  looked  on  them  as  possible 
trophies  for  Christ.  In  1520  France  founded  a  western  Brest; 
but  the  aborigines  were  not  baptized.  In  1669  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  received  from  Charles  II  Hberal  grants  in  these 
parts ;  but  the  fur-traders  cared  little  enough  for  demonstrative 
Christianity  at  any  time,  and  nothing  at  all  for  missionating. 
Money-making  was  their  business.  It  needed  another  kind  of 
man  to  be  interested  in  the  souls  of  these  uncouth  heathen.  He 
was  at  last  found  in  the  mate  of  a  Dutch  ship,  John  Christian 
Erhardt,  who  in  174.1,  in  the  course  of  one  of  his  voyages,  had 
come  into  contact  with  Frederick  Martin.  The  missionary  to 
the  negroes  brought  the  knowledge  of  personal  salvation  to  the 
sailor.  When  his  avocation  took  him  into  northern  latitudes 
he  visited  New  Herrnhut,  and  writes  to  Germany,  "I  have  an 
amazing  affection  for  those  northern  countries,  and  for  Indians 
and  other  barbarians,  and  it  would  be  the  source  of  the  greatest 
joy  if  the  Saviour  would  discover  to  me  that  He  has  chosen  me 
and  would  make  me  fit  for  this  service."  De  Watteville  en- 
courages Erhardt's  desire ;  but  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  will 
hear  of  no  such  thing  as  preaching  to  Eskimos  near  their  estab- 
lishments. 

In  the  fall  of  175 1  Matthew  Stach,  with  Lawrence  Drachart, 
a  former  Lutheran  minister  in  Greenland  who  had  recently 
entered  the  service  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  reports  concern- 
ing the  mission  in  that  country,  and  urges  similar  work  in  Lab- 
rador, suggesting  that  trade  be  combined  with  evangelization. 
But  this  proposition  does  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  Count 
Zinzendorf.  Merchants  who  are  members  of  the  London  con- 
gregation, however,  adopt  the  idea,  and  in  1752  fit  out  a  ship 


A  HISTORY  OF 


for  trade  and  possible  colonization  on  the  coast  of  Labrador, 
James  Nisbet  being  especially  active  in  promoting  the  under- 
taking. Erhardt  and  several  other  Brethren  take  passage  in 
her,  and  on  July  31  reach  their  destination,  entering  a  fine  bay 
which  they  call  Nisbet's  Haven.  Here  four  prospective  mis- 
sionaries land  and  prepare  to  build  a  house,  naming  the  place 
Hopedale.  Then  Erhardt  sails  northward.  But  when  he  and 
five  others  put  oflf  unarmed  in  a  small  boat  to  do  business  with 
the  natives,  their  goods  prove  an  incentive  to  murder.  Their 
boat  never  returns ;  only  mutilated  remains  tell  the  tragic  story 
of  treacherous  crime.  Short-handed  as  he  now  is,  the  captain 
forthwith  returns  to  Hopedale,  and  represents  to  the  four  mis- 
sionaries that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  safely  navigate  his 
ship  home  without  their  aid.  They  must  therefore  reluctantly 
abandon  their  enterprise. 

Meanwhile  the  status  of  the  mission  in  the  West  Indies  had 
decidedly  improved.  Success  had  gradually  altered  pubhc 
opinion  in  relation  to  it.  Since  1751  its  management  had  de- 
volved upon  Bishop  Spangenberg  at  Bethlehem,  with  Seidel  as 
his  assistant.  The  latter  visited  St.  Thomas  in  1753,  and  made 
provision  for  the  systematic  development  of  the  enterprise  by 
the  appointment  of  twenty-four  national-helpers.  Within  a 
few  years  land  was  purchased  for  settlement  congregations. 
Nisky  in  St.  Thomas,  Friedensthal  in  St.  Croix,  and  Bethany 
in  St.  John.  The  appointment  of  resident  missonaries  in  the 
latter  islands,  Ohneberg  in  St.  Croix,  and  Brucker  in  St.  John — 
1 75 1  and  1754 — was  attended  with  gratifying  results  forthwith. 
But  the  purchase  of  land  inaugurated  a  policy  of  doubtful  legiti- 
macy and  expediency.  Taking  the  institution  of  slavery  as 
they  found  it,  the  missionaries  at  first  made  no  protest  against 
it  as  such,  but  sought  to  mitigate  its  evils  by  securing  their 
converts  as  laborers  on  the  mission  estates.  That  in  the  end 
this  militated  against  successful  spiritual  labor,  by  leading  to  a 
not  unnatural  suspicion  of  the  disinterestedness  of  those  who 
were  at  the  same  time  task-masters  and  religious  teachers,  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at.  On  the  other  hand  the  faithful  and 
blameless  conduct  of  the  mission-negroes  during  an  insurrec- 
tion of  the  slaves  at  Christmas,  1759,  testified  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  their  conversion  and  to  their  affection  for  the  Brethren 
who  had  rescued  them  from  the  brutality  of  conscienceless  over- 
seers. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Prior  to  this  the  good  influence  of  the  missionaries  upon  the 
morals  of  the  slaves  drew  favorable  attention  to  their  work,  and 
caused  its  extension  to  the  English  Islands.  Soon  after  the 
passage  of  the  Act  of  ParHament  in  1749  overtures  came  to 
Zinzendorf  to  establish  missionary  settlements  in  Jamaica  from 
a  Miss  Edwin,  of  London,  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Stonehouse.  But 
nothing  could  be  done  at  this  time.  It  was  the  era  of  deepest 
financial  embarrassment. 

That  Jamaica  was  well  worthy  of  their  attention,  and  offered 
an  attractive  field  for  philanthropic  effort,  they  fully  realized. 
Well-wooded,  fertile  and  watered  by  countless  rivulets,  the 
"Isle  of  Springs"  was  the  most  important  of  the  British  pos- 
sessions in  the  West  Indies.  Discovered  by  Columbus  in  1494, 
it  had  been  wrested  from  the  Spanish  in  1655  by  Cromwell's  ex- 
pedition under  Admiral  Penn  and  General  Venables.  Before 
the  end  of  the  century  it  was  beginning  to  export  vast  quanti- 
ties of  sugar,  and  Port  Royal,  the  rendezvous  of  the  Bucca- 
neers, was  known  as  "the  finest  town  in  the  West  Indies  and  the 
richest  spot  in  the  universe,"  till  the  awful  catastrophe  of  June 
7,  1690,  involved  all  except  two  hundred  of  its  three  thousand 
houses  and  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  its  inhabitants  in  sud- 
den destruction.  This  had  led  to  the  settlement  of  Kingston. 
With  its  thousands  of  slaves  Jamaica  before  and  since  that 
time  had  proved  no  exception  to  other  West  Indian  islands  in 
regard  to  servile  insurrections.  From  time  to  time  many 
blacks  escaped  to  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains  rising  from 
two  thousand  or  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  sea  level, 
and  by  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  massed  to- 
gether in  such  numbers  as  to  establish  a  veritable  town  on  one 
of  the  highest  points.  To  reduce  this  fastness  of  the  Maroons, 
as  they  were  called,  had  taxed  the  miHtary  strength  of  the  island 
in  1734;  and  despite  its  destruction  they  had  rallied  under  their 
able  leader,  one  Cudjoe,  so  effectively  as  to  dictate  terms  to  the 
government  and  compel  the  latter  to  have  recourse  to  concilia- 
tion rather  than  force.  In  1738  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  made 
with  them,  according  to  the  terms  of  which  two  thousand  five 
hundred  acres  of  land  were  assigned  to  them  in  different  parts 
of  the  island,  and  perfect  freedom  was  granted  to  them  and  to 
their  posterity.  "Captain  Cudjoe"  was  confirmed  as  their 
chief  commander,  with  two  white  superintendents  as  their  ad- 
visers, and  they  were  required  to  aid  the  government  in  repel- 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ling  invasions  and  in  suppressing  rebellions.  But  notwithstand- 
ing this  recognition  of  the  legal  status  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
blacks,  and  the  increase  of  the  stipends  of  the  clergy  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  in  1707,  because  of  their  being  "required  to 
instruct  all  free  persons  of  color  and  slaves  who  may  be  will- 
ing to  be  baptized  and  informed  in  the  tenets  of  the  Christian 
religion,"  it  does  not  appear  that  any  systematic  missionary 
work  had  been  undertaken. 

In  February,  1754,  two  members  of  the  church  in  England, 
Barham  and  Foster,  who  owned  plantations  in  Jamaica,  asked 
for  the  appointment  of  missionaries  to  instruct  their  four  hun- 
dred slaves.  Zinzendorf  was  apprehensive  that  circumstances 
would  not  allow  of  a  new  venture  at  this  time,  but  gave  his  con- 
sent when  Zacharias  George  Caries  volunteered  to  go  and  the 
two  proprietors  promised  their  support.  With  two  companions 
Caries  set  out  in  October.  Foster  and  Barham  made  good 
their  word,  providing  generously  and  presenting  a  plot  of 
ground  for  the  benefit  of  the  mission,  named  Carmel.  Other 
planters  encouraged  the  missionaries  and  urged  their  people  to 
give  heed  to  them.  Additional  missionaries  soon  followed, 
amongst  the  rest  Christian  Henry  Ranch  from  America,  later 
superintendent  of  the  field.  Numbers  were  baptized.  Emmaus 
was  added  to  Carmel,  and  outposts  were  established  at  the 
Bogue,  Island  and  Mesopotamia,  three  other  plantations.  But 
dif¥erences  of  judgment  amongst  the  missionaries  respecting 
the  length  of  probation  advisable  prior  to  the  admission  of  con- 
verts to  church  fellowship  disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  workers 
and  seriously  affected  the  confidence  of  the  negroes. 

Meantime  in  1756  the  missionaries  on  St.  Thomas  com- 
missioned Samuel  Isles  to  investigate  the  prospects  in  Antigua. 
Well  received  by  the  governor  and  by  a  number  of  the  planters, 
he  met  with  speedy  success,  his  first  convert  being  baptized  next 
year.  In  1760  a  piece  of  ground  in  the  outskirts  of  St.  Johns 
was  purchased  and  a  permanent  base  of  operations  secured. 

The  year  1754,  "the  colonial  year,"  as  it  has  been  distinctively 
termed  by  Moravian  writers,  was  of  significance  also  for  the  mis- 
sion in  Surinam.  The  exploratory  tour  of  the  year  1735  had  not 
imparted  favorable  impressions.  Low-lying,  swampy  land,  the 
boat  or  canoe  affording  the  best  means  of  travel  up  the  numer- 
ous rivers,  soil  fabulously  fertile  but  also  malaria-breeding,  the 
climate  one  of  intensest  heat,  requiring  Europeans  to  seek 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


185 


absolute  rest  during  the  mid-day  hours — these  were  the  chief 
features  reported  from  Surinam.  Arawack,  Warrow  and  other 
Indian  tribes  and  free  Bush  Negroes  and  negro  slaves  consti- 
tuted the  bulk  of  the  population.  Discovered  by  Columbus  in 
1498,  the  country  has  received  Dutch  settlers  as  early  as  1580, 
and  slaves  have  been  introduced  in  1621.  Since  1669  it  has 
been  continuously  the  property  of  Holland. 

A  patriarchal,  but  utterly  heathenish  life  was  that  of  its  In- 
dians, treachery  and  implacable  thirst  for  revenge  rendering 
futile  any  attempt  at  stable  tribal  organization.  Characteristic 
of  this  life  was  the  "avenging  of  blood."  "If  an  Indian  die,  the 
sorcerer  decides  whether  the  evil  spirit  or  a  human  enemy  has 
killed  him.  If  a  man  be  supposed  to  have  poisoned  the  de- 
ceased, a  caldron  containing  water  and  the  leaves  of  a  certain 
plant  is  placed  on  the  fire  until  the  water  boils.  The  side  of 
the  caldron  on  which  the  water  first  froths  over  indicates  the 
direction  from  which  the  murderer  has  come,  and  the  sorcerer 
now  names  the  place  and  person.  The  nearest  male  relative 
of  the  deceased  then  sets  out  to  take  vengeance.  Until  this  be 
done  he  may  neither  eat  nor  speak.  For  days,  and  even  for 
weeks,  he  may  lie  in  wait  for  his  unsuspecting  victim,  until  an 
opportunity  presents  itself  of  shooting  him  in  the  back  with  a 
poisoned  arrow.  If  the  unfortunate  man  fall  down  dead,  the 
murderer  buries  him  in  the  bush,  returns  to  the  place  on  the 
third  night,  thrusts  a  pointed  stick  into  the  ground  so  as  to 
pierce  the  corpse  lying  beneath,  pulls  the  stick  out  again,  licks 
the  blood  which  adheres  to  it,  and  goes  home  contented  and 
proud.  If  the  sorcerer,  however,  has  named  a  woman  or  a 
child  as  the  murderer,  vengeance  must  be  executed  in  another 
way.  The  innocent  victim  is  surprised  in  a  lonely  place,  and 
thrown  to  the  ground.  After  the  woman's  mouth  has  been 
forced  open  the  teeth  of  a  poisonous  snake  are  pressed  into  her 
tongue.  The  victim  of  this  outrage  is  now  allowed  to  run 
home,  for  before  she  reaches  home  her  tongue  will  be  so  in- 
flamed and  swollen  that  she  will  not  be  able  to  name  her  mur- 
derer. Usually  death  soon  follows.  Thus  no  Indian  is  sure  of 
his  life,  and  all  are  under  the  power  of  the  sorcerer,  who  is  able 
at  any  time  to  contrive  the  death  of  an  enemy  by  naming  him 
to  the  avenger  of  blood  as  the  murderer  of  his  deceased  rela- 
tive." 


A  HISTORY  OF 


After  the  return  of  the  explorers,  in  response  to  the  of¥er  of 
a  welcome  on  a  plantation  on  the  Rio  de  Berbice  by  a  gentle- 
man of  Amsterdam,  Christopher  Daehne  and  John  Giittner  had 
been  sent  thither  in  1738.  At  first  regarded  askance  by  the 
planters,  they  had  established  Pilgerhut  about  one  hundred 
miles  inland.  In  1739  Dr.  Frederick  Regnier  and  his  wife 
found  their  way  to  Paramaribo,  and  through  the  friendly  offices 
of  Abraham  Boemper,  who  later  removed  to  America  and  iden- 
fied  himself  with  the  church,  commenced  a  mission  which  began 
to  excite  interest  especially  amongst  the  Jews  of  the  city.  But 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  manifested  such  hostility 
that  a  removal  became  necessary,  and  a  small  plantation  was 
secured  on  the  Cottica,  to  be  in  turn  relinquished  in  1745,  when 
part  of  the  working  force  was  transferred  to  Pilgerhut.  Here 
the  first  convert  was  baptized  in  March,  1748,  an  old  woman, 
and  so  great  was  the  impression  which  this  made  that  by  June 
the  number  of  those  baptized  rose  to  thirty-nine. 

New  life  had  been  already  inspired  by  the  arrival  of  The- 
ophilus  Solomon  Schumann,  a  friend  of  Cammerhof  and  his 
counterpart  in  soul  and  zeal.  Formerly  a  tutor  in  the  Protes- 
tant cloister  at  Klosterbergen  in  Saxony,  he  readily  acquired 
the  language  which  had  proved  so  difficult  to  his  predecessors, 
translated  portions  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Arawack,  and  pre- 
pared lexical  and  grammatical  helps  for  his  associates.  But  in 
1750  the  operations  of  the  missionaries  were  more  than  ever 
thwarted  by  hostile  whites,  who  conceived  that  the  conversion 
and  enlightenment  of  the  Indians  would  be  prejudicial  to  trade. 
Efforts  were  made  to  arbitrarily  enroll  the  Christian  Indians  on 
the  military  lists  of  the  colony.  Military  duties  and  the  taking 
of  oaths  were  to  be  forced  upon  the  missionaries.  Notwith- 
standing the  unrest  thus  occasioned,  by  the  end  of  1756  Pilger- 
hut numbered  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  baptized  persons. 

Now  in  1754  the  countenance  of  the  authorities  was  secured 
by  Daehne  and  Ralfs  at  Paramaribo.  Seidel  and  Schumann 
also  obtained  concessions  for  the  founding  of  mission  colonies, 
and  two  years  later  Captain  Garrison,  of  the  Irene,  was  sent  to 
take  possession  of  these  tracts  in  the  name  of  the  church. 
Sharon  was  commenced  on  the  Saramacca  by  Schumann  and 
others,  and  Daehne  founded  Ephraim  on  the  Corentyne. 

Daehne's  sole  companion  was  one  Christopher,  a  baptized 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


187 


negro  from  Pilgerhut,  who  deserted  him.  For  two  years  he 
lived  a  life  of  utter  solitude,  danger  and  hardship. 

"One  evening  he  had  lain  down  in  the  dark  to  rest  in  his 
hammock,  when  a  large  serpent  fell  upon  him  from  a  lath  of  the 
roof,  twined  itself  twice  and  then  three  times  round  his  neck, 
drawing  itself  all  the  time  closer  together.  He  thought  his  end 
had  come,  and  wrote  on  the  table  with  chalk,  'A  serpent  has 
killed  me,'  that  his  brethren  might  not  think  the  Indians  had 
murdered  him.  Suddenly  the  promise  of  our  Saviour  to  His 
disciples  occurred  to  his  mind,  'They  shall  take  up  serpents,  and 
it  shall  not  hurt  them.'  Relying  upon  this,  he  sought  with  all 
his  might  to  free  himself  from  the  serpent's  embrace,  and  was 
so  vehement  in  his  efforts  that  he  tore  off  a  part  of  the  skin  of 
his  face.  He  did  not  know  whither  he  had  flung  the  reptile  in 
the  darkness,  but  was  soon  peacefully  asleep  in  his  hammock. 

"Often  in  the  evenings  he  heard  the  roar  of  a  jaguar,  which 
crept  stealthily  around  his  hut.  He  kindled  a  fire  to  frighten 
away  the  unwelcome  visitor,  but  even  when  the  flames  died  out 
he  remained  fearless.  Then  again,  one  day,  while  gathering 
wood  for  fuel,  he  was  stung  by  the  black  ants,  and  was  rendered 
insensible.  These  ants  are  an  inch  in  length,  and  as  poisonous 
as  the  serpents. 

"Another  time  fifty  blood-thirsty  Indians  with  iron  hatchets 
and  wooden  swords  surrounded  his  hut,  bent  on  executing  their 
long  cherished  design  of  murdering  the  white  man.  Daehne, 
however,  went  out  to  them,  and  told  them  of  his  God,  who  had 
sent  him  to  them,  and  of  God's  love  to  them.  The  result  was 
that  the  Indians  gave  him  some  of  their  provisions  and  promised 
to  come  again  soon,  in  order  to  hear  more  from  him.  While 
yet  living  alone,  he  fell  ill  and  lay  in  his  hut,  stricken  with  a 
severe  fever,  but  was  saved  by  the  timely  arrival  of  Schumann. 
Even  in  his  sickness  he  did  not  feel  lonely.  Tn  all  my  need  and 
bodily  weakness  my  dear  Saviour  helped  me  through,  and  sweet- 
ened everything  that  was  bitter,'  he  wrote  to  his  brethren. 

"After  two  years  Daehne  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Indians 
settle  down  at  Ephraim,  and  in  this  way  a  small  Christian  con- 
gregation sprang  up  around  his  hut.  Of  the  two  years  which 
had  elapsed  he  said:  T  have  hitherto  lived  alone  with  my  dear 
Saviour,  and  done  what  I  could,  with  a  contented  and  happy 
heart.  The  Saviour  comforted  me  so  powerfully  by  His  pres- 
ence in  this  lonely  place  that  I  spent  very  happy  times.'  " 


i88 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Finally  he  was  relieved  by  the  arrival  of  three  Brethren,  and 
was  transferred  to  Sharon  on  the  Saramacca. 

But  now  a  period  of  retrogression  ensued.  In  1758  Schu- 
mann lost  his  wife,  and  circumstances  connected  with  the  mis- 
sion rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  visit  Europe.  On  his  re- 
turn to  Pilgerhut  in  1760,  he  found  the  state  of  affairs  com- 
pletely changed.  The  missionary  who  was  to  have  taken  his 
place  had  been  unable  to  find  a  ship  in  which  to  proceed  to  Suri- 
nam. The  converts  had  been  left  without  the  enjoyment  of  the 
sacraments  and  the  discipline  had  been  sadly  relaxed.  Epi- 
demics had  carried  oft  as  many  as  forty  persons  in  one  year. 
Raids  of  hostile  Bush  Negroes  had  entailed  heavy  losses.  In 
consequence  a  large  portion  of  the  congregation  had  scattered. 
The  rest  were  quite  dispirited.  Finally,  in  addition  to  all  this, 
Schumann  himself  fell  a  victim  to  the  prevalent  disease,  October 
6,  1760.  Only  forty  years  of  age,  he  had  personally  baptized 
about  four  hundred  Indians.  Well  did  he  deserve  the  designa- 
tion of  "apostle  of  the  Arawacks."  With  his  sudden  death  the 
mission  was  thrown  into  a  deplorable  state. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  ZINZENDORFIAN  ERA. 

In  the  formative  years  of  childhood  Zinzendorf  was  subjected 
to  the  influences  of  Pietism,  and  Pietistic  thought  ruled  his 
environment  at  Halle.  Yet  the  years  at  Wittenberg  also  exer- 
cised a  determinative  influence.  In  his  case  the  antagonism  of 
the  divergent  schools  of  evangelical  faith  issued  into  a  blend- 
ing of  Pietistic  ethical  practice  and  aspirations  after  practical 
reform  in  the  sphere  of  religion  with  the  theoretic  habit  of 
thought  characteristic  of  the  older  Lutheran  theology.  Never- 
theless his  was  not  a  Lutheranism  unaffected  and  unchanged 
by  personal  temperament  and  experience.  What  he  lived 
through  vitally  transmuted  and  materially  altered  his  religious 
views,  and  the  Moravian  aversion  to  a  strict  definition  of  dogmas 
posited  in  technical  terminology  found  in  him  a  sympathetic 
appreciation.  In  turn  his  master-mind  impressed  upon  his  asso- 
ciates and  coadjutors  his  personal  apprehension  of  the  essen- 
tials of  religion  and  of  the  most  effective  mode  of  their  presen- 
tation ;  hence  the  theology  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  the  Zin- 
zendorfian  era  was  more  completely  identical  with  the  theology 
of  Zinzendorf  than  is  the  theology  of  a  church  as  a  rule  identical 
with  that  of  any  one  of  its  writers  or  leaders. 

Any  fair  presentation  of  the  essentials  of  the  Zinzendorfian 
theology  must  take  into  account  the  fact,  that  their  purpose  and 
character  give  to  his  several  writings  very  varied  value  as 
sources.  Some,  like  the  Berliner  Reden,  evidently  placed  well 
matured  and  permanently  apprehended  thought  before  the  wider 
public  in  lasting  form.  Others,  fugitive  religious  poems  and 
hymns  of  emotion,  addresses  and  tractates  occasioned  by  tem- 
porary states  of  feeling,  or  controversial  or  apologetic  pam- 
phlets, were  not  of  lasting  significance — were  later  possibly 
repudiated  by  their  author.  These  last  possess  little  or  no  true 
value  as  a  means  of  ascertaining  his  underlying  and  permanent 


190 


A  HISTORY  OF 


theological  conceptions.  Amongst  the  writings  of  importance, 
in  addition  to  the  Berliner  Reden,  mention  may  be  made  of  the 
following :  Sonderbare  Gcsprdche  eines  Rcisenden  iiber  W ahrheitcn 
der  Religion,  published  in  Leipsic  at  Easter,  1739;  Versuch  zu 
einer  abermaligen  Uebersetsimg  des  Neuen  Testamentcs  aus  dem 
Griechischen,  Biidingcn,  autumn  of  1739;  and  Probe  eines  Lehr- 
bucJileins  fur  die  so-genannteii  Briidergemcinen,  a  catechism  au- 
thorized by  the  synod  of  Gotha,  July,  1740.  Of  his  hymns 
without  doubt  the  most  significant,  as  setting  forth  his  own 
doctrinal  position,  and  personal  experience  was  his  Christi 
Bliit  und  Gerechtigkeit,  written  on  the  West  Indian  island  of  St. 
Eustace,  in  1739,  originally  in  thirty-three  strophes,  twenty 
being  still  in  use  .1  the  German  and  twelve  in  the  English 
version.  It  has  ever  deservedly  remained  a  favorite  in  the 
Brethren's  Church. 

Hallensian  Pieti  .m  early  lost  the  allegiance  of  Zinzendorf, 
who  was  compelled  to  reject  its  claims  to  correctly  present 
scriptural  and  experimental  theology.  His  own  Christian 
development  could  not  be  harmonized  with  its  theories.  At 
the  basis  of  the  revival  of  1727  lay  not  so  much  the  Pietistic  con- 
ception of  the  struggle  of  repentance,  which  issues  into  peace 
from  the  terrors  of  an  accusing  conscience  with  the  conviction 
that  the  wrath  of  a  just  and  angry  God  has  been  appeased,  but 
rather  the  conception  of  the  grace  of  the  Son  of  God,  whereby 
personal  fellowship  with  Him  and  unfeigned  following  of  Him 
are  made  possible  and  acceptance  with  God  is  realized.  The 
universal  necessity  of  a  painful  struggle  of  repentance  (Biiss- 
kampf)  was  not  conceded.  In  fact,  uniformity  of  method  could 
not  be  ascribed  to  the  operations  of  divine  grace.  The  Buss- 
kampf  and  the  Durchbruch,  on  which  the  Hallensians  laid  such 
stress,  were  felt  to  be  out  of  place  where  in  spite  of  sin  the  love 
of  God  had  been  a  gentle  but  persistently  regnant  force  in  a 
life  from  childhood.  Personal  relationship  to  Jesus,  through 
whatever  providential  leading  it  might  be  attained,  was  con- 
ceived to  be  more  important,  bringing  with  it  assurance  and 
peace.  Penitence  denotes  not  anguish  and  distress  under  con- 
viction of  sin  and  the  felt  wrath  of  God,  but  a  change  of  mind, 
heart,  disposition  and  life's  purpose,  whereby  one  emerges  into 
the  enjoyment  of  the  divine  sonship.  To  earnestly  yearn  after 
the  mind  of  Christ  and  an  acquirement  of  the  Christ-life,  is  a 
more  sound  evidence  of  conversion,  than  to  be  driven  to  a 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


191 


painful  discriminaton  between  things  lawful  and  unlawful,  and 
to  a  shunning  of  the  latter  from  a  dread  of  the  punishment  of 
sin. 

In  the  year  1734  Zinzendorf's  Biblical  studies  led  him  to  an 
exaltation  of  the  person  of  the  historic  Christ,  as  of  central 
importance,  and  to  a  special  appreciation  of  the  vicarious  atone- 
ment in  particular.  He  was  impressed  with  the  significance  of 
the  word  Urpov  (a  ransom)  and  its  kindred  derivatives  (e.  g. 
Matt.  20:  28,  Mark  10:  45,  Luke  24:  21,  Titus  2:  14,  i  Peter 
I  :i8,  Heb.  9:12).  In  consequence  the  person  of  Christ  hence- 
forth became  central  in  his  theology  and  in  his  preaching  and 
in  the  preaching  of  his  brethren.  But  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, of  experience  and  of  feeling,  rather  U  n  the  terminology 
of  scientific  theology  was  employed,  with  an  absence  of  dog- 
matic theories  of  substitutionaHsm.  Indeed  the  term  "redemp- 
tion" was  favorite  rather  than  "atonement/'  That  the  death 
of  Christ  has  the  value  of  a  complete  deliverance  from  the 
punishment  for  sin,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned — the  sinner  being 
no  more  regarded  as  a  sinner  in  God's  sight ;  that  the  objective 
act  of  redemption  carries  with  it  for  the  believer  the  right  to 
subjectively  appropriate  forgiveness  of  sin;  that  both  the  act 
of  redemption  and  the  act  of  pardon  have  their  ground  in  the 
all-avaiUng  merits  of  the  life,  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ ; 
that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  works  in  a  behever  the  conviction  that 
his  sins  are  forgiven  and  therewith  fashions  in  his  heart  a  new 
purpose  in  life — the  new  birth,  a  momentary  act — whence 
springs  an  inclination  towards  and  a  desire  for  sanctification ; 
that  growth  in  grace  follows  as  a  consequence  and  result  of 
regeneration ;  these  became  the  chief  themes  of  Zinzendorfian 
and  Moravian  preaching  in  the  succeeding  years. 

In  the  Berliner  Reden  of  1738  the  following  tenets  appear  char- 
aracteristic :  the  essential  and  eternal  divinity  and  at  the  same 
time  the  true  and  essential  humanity  of  Christ ;  the  merits  of  the 
slaughtered  Lamb  of  God  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  for  the 
salvation  of  poor  sinners ;  their  privilege  of  obtaining  grace  to 
conquer  sin ;  the  truth  that  Jesus  is  everything  and  man  less 
than  nothing — not  a  hindrance,  but  a  stimulus  to  sanctification. 
The  death  on  the  cross  from  one  standpoint  is  the  depth  of  the 
humiliation  {Ksvum^)  but  from  another  standpoint  is  the  acme 
of  his  glorification. 


192 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  synod  held  at  Marienborn  in  December,  1740,  has  re- 
ceived from  Moravian  historians  the  distinctive  appellation  of 
the  Lehrsyiiode.  It  gave  formal  sanction  to  the  conceptions  and 
expressions  which  had  become  characteristic  of  the  Brethren 
and  their  heralds  in  home  and  heathen  lands,  familiar  by  this 
time  alike  to  their  friends  and  their  antagonists  through  ser- 
mons, addresses,  hymns  and  published  writings.  The  very  ker- 
nel of  doctrine  was  held  to  be  the  forgiveness  of  sins  through 
the  blood  of  Christ.  Faith  is  a  firm  assurance  which  is  wholly 
the  work  of  God.  This  assurance  manifests  itself  to  a  believer 
first  of  all  in  a  conviction  of  his  helpless  sinful  state.  Then  fol- 
lows absolution.  Before  the  gospel  can  savingly  reach  a  soul, 
that  soul  must  be  made  poor  in  spirit  and  must  see  that  in  itself 
it  is  worthless  and  helpless.  Then  it  is  capable  of  receiving  the 
message  that  the  Lamb  of  God  has  died  for  it.  The  foolishness 
of  the  gospel  of  the  cross  consists  in  this,  that  it  was  needful  for 
the  Son  of  God  to  shed  his  blood  for  us,  if  men  were  to  be 
helped.  Thereby  all  philosophizing  is  put  to  shame.  The 
blood  of  Jesus  is  in  the  first  place  the  ransom  O-vrpov)  paid  for 
the  redemption  of  men.  Since  Satan  brought  to  the  cross  the  Son 
of  God,  His  Lord  and  God,  who  was  innocent,  mankind  is  taken 
out  of  his  power.  In  the  second  place,  the  blood  of  Christ  is  the 
satisfaction  for  the  justice  of  God,  for  God  must  have  punished 
man,  if  he  remained  under  the  power  of  the  devil.  In  the  third 
place,  the  blood  of  Christ  has  physically  tinged  the  world  of  na- 
ture, and  has  affected  something  supernatural  for  it.  It  should 
be  noted  in  passing  that  these  conceptions  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  permanent  or  to  have  been  insisted  upon  strenuously.  "So 
soon  as  one  obtains  grace,  faith  and  love  enter  the  heart,  and 
one  first  of  all  feels  love ;  one  loves  Him  whom  one  has  not 
seen.  The  difference  between  the  Brethren's  standpoint  and 
that  of  the  Tiibingen  theologians  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  former 
set  forth  as  the  one  essential  the  blood  and  the  merits  of  the 
Lamb  of  God,  whilst  the  latter  lay  stress  on  other  truths  in 
addition.  The  difference  between  the  Brethren  and  the  Hallen- 
sians  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  latter  seek  to  obtain  grace  by  pious 
following  of  Christ,  while  the  former  begin  with  the  obtaining 
of  grace.  Unlike  the  Lutherans  we,  however,  construct  no  con- 
fession of  faith,  which  may  not  later  be  altered.  We  desire  to 
retain  freedom,  that  the  Saviour  may  from  time  to  time  en- 
lighten our  teaching."    Thus  the  men  of  1740  expressed  them- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


selves.  This  freedom  from  all  purely  authoritative  definition 
of  doctrine  brought  with  it  not  only  that  the  Brethren  did  not 
make  issues  out  of  matters  of  secondary  importance,  but  also 
that  they  endeavored  to  come  to  their  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
with  minds  unaffected  by  dogmatic  prejudices,  in  order  that 
both  the  word  and  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  might  be  apprehended. 

That  the  synodical  conference  in  London  in  September,  1741, 
with  its  far  reaching  subjective  experience  of  the  chief  eldership 
of  the  Saviour,  should  have  powerfully  influenced  Zinzendorf's 
conception  of  the  church,  is  what  might  well  have  been  expected. 
More  than  ever  for  that  daily  close  fellowship  of  the  individual 
believer  with  the  Saviour,  which  gave  the  key-note  to  his  appre- 
hension of  the  state  of  grace,  he  now  sought  to  find  some  corre- 
spondent relationship  in  the  life  of  the  church  and  of  its  congre- 
gations as  units.  Emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  immediate  lead- 
ing of  the  Saviour  as  the  head  of  His  church.  Amongst  the 
various  confessional  denominations  the  Brethren's  Unity  was 
held  to  occupy  the  position  of  the  church  of  Philadelphia  in  the 
Apocalypse.  The  direct  decision  of  the  lot  and  the  indication 
of  the  will  of  the  great  Head  of  the  church  through  this  means, 
came  to  be  considered  a  special  privilege  of  the  Unity.  Within 
the  Unity  itself  various  modes  of  apprehending  saving  truth 
(the  Tropen)  were  to  be  equally  encouraged,  as  of  use  in  lead- 
ing to  the  Saviour  men  of  varied  disposition  and  fundamental 
habits  of  thought,  and  as  a  means  to  evangelical  union  amongst 
the  denominations.  The  religious  tolerance  to  be  found  in  the 
settlements  of  the  Brethren  in  virtue  of  a  recognition  of  the 
Tropen  rendered  them  "free  cities"  for  those  who  otherwise 
might  be  unable  to  elsewhere  discover  a  place  where  they  could 
enjoy  true  fellowship.  Here  the  basis  of  union  consisted  less 
in  uniformity  of  theological  conception  but  rather  in  a  com- 
munity of  ethico-reHgious  convictions  and  practice,  based  upon 
unity  of  apprehension  of  the  one  thing  needful.'?  - 

Therewith,  moreover,  was  connected  the  conception  of  the 
true  humanity  of  Christ,  very-man  as  well  as  very-God,  who  in 
passing  through  each  stage  from  infancy  to  maturity  sanctified 
human  life  in  all  its  progress  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  and 
gave  to  each  beHever  in  each  period  of  his  career  the  example 
of  faultless  conduct  and  spotless  purity.  For  the  Brethren's 
characteristic  method  of  the  care  and  cure  of  souls  through  the 
"choir  system"  this  idea  acquired  special  importance,  being 
14 


194 


A  HISTORY  OF 


second  only  to  the  realization  of  the  atoning  merits  of  the 
Lord's  Hfe,  sufferings  and  death. 

The  "Period  of  Sifting,"  with  its  figurative  theory  of  the  Trin- 
ity and  its  exaggeration  of  the  material  efficacy  of  the  blood  of 
Christ,  furnished  no  permanent  contribution  to  the  theology  of 
the  Brethren's  Church,  thoroughly  repudiated  as  its  main 
features  were  by  Zinzendorf  himself  and  its  peculiar  liturgies 
suppressed  from  1750  to  1756. 

When  he  emerged  from  the  fantasies  of  the  later  forties  Zin- 
zendorf did  not  so  much  return  to  an  emphasizing  of  the  doc- 
trine of  redemption,  as  it  had  been  presented  just  before  the 
Wetteravian  era.  The  recalling  of  the  Unity  to  the  rock-foun- 
dation became  rather  the  special  task  of  Spangenberg  and 
Clemens.  The  tendency  of  Zinzendorf  himself,  though  com- 
pletely purged  from  the  aberrations  of  the  past,  rather  incHned 
to  a  contemplation  of  the  person  of  Christ  than  to  a  presenta- 
tion of  soteriology  in  its  usual  aspects.  He  was  convinced  that 
"religion  does  not  root  itself  in  knowledge,  but  in  the  feeling 
of  love,  in  a  belief  of  that  which  one  loves,"  as  he  expressed  it. 
But  complete  love  demands  a  person  as  its  object.  For  Zin- 
zendorf now  as  ever  this  personal  object  of  love  was  the 
Saviour;  his  religion,  constant  fellowship  with  Him.  He  de- 
clared, "The  Saviour,  the  God-man,  and  atoner,  is  the  object  of 
religion ;  the  essential  manifestation  of  religion  is  loving  fellow- 
ship with  Him,"  at  one  time  described  as  "intercourse  with 
Him,"  at  another  time  as  "His  blessed  presence,"  "Seine  liebe 
Ndhe."  Henceforth,  from  1756  to  the  end  of  his  life,  "Seine  liebe 
Ndhe"  became  a  favorite  thought  with  Zinzendorf.  In  this  con- 
ception and  in  the  merits  of  the  humanity  of  the  Saviour  for 
body  and  soul  he  discovered  the  ground  for  eflforts  in  regard  to 
the  inner  life  of  a  Christian,  the  while  he  admitted  the  need  of 
our  Lord's  moral  precepts,  and  especially  those  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  And  as  a  corollary  to  the  tenet,  that  the  funda- 
mentals of  religion  lie  in  daily  fellowship  with  the  Saviour,  he 
deduced  the  privilege  of  true  union  of  believers,  to  be  exem- 
plified in  the  "Diaspora." 

Originality  of  thought  and  expression  markedly  distinguished 
Zinzendorf,  and  in  various  respects  he  was  undoubtedly  a  pio- 
neer in  the  realm  of  theology,  especialy  in  his  Christo-centric 
presentation  of  the  truths  essential  to  salvation.  Summarized 
in  brief,  his  characteristic  tenets,  tenets  maintained  with  fairly 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Steadfast  consistency  from  first  to  last,  were  the  following:  the 
presentation  of  Christ  as  God,  with  an  acceptance  of  all  the  con- 
sequences of  this  presentation,  amongst  the  rest  prayer  directly 
to  Christ ;  the  sacrifice  of  the  God-man  on  the  cross,  as  the  com- 
plete atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  so  that  through  faith, 
which  is  the  gift  of  grace,  it  is  possible  for  the  believer  to  ob- 
tain firm  and  well-grounded  though  humble  assurance  of  his 
acceptance  with  God ;  the  subjective  condition  of  this  assurance, 
and  an  essential  to  salvation,  being  the  regeneration  of  the  be- 
liever through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whilst  the  mode 
of  this  divine  work  can  not  be  predicated  in  any  case,  God  deal- 
ing with  each  as  seemeth  Him  best,  and  for  the  man  the  fact 
of  his  regeneration  being  of  importance  rather  than  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  effected  in  and  for  him ;  the  continuance  of  his 
conflict  with  depravity  so  long  as  life  lasts,  he  remaining  sadly 
conscious  that  he  is  a  sinner,  dependent  on  the  mercy  of  God, 
though  the  issue,  which  is  wholly  of  grace  and  as  such  a  divine 
work,  is  assured  to  the  believer;  the  privilege  of  personal  daily 
fellowship  with  the  Lord  Jesus  in  spite  of  realized  unworthiness 
and  personal  sinfulness ;  the  obligation  and  privilege  of  follow- 
ing the  guidance  and  leading  of  the  Lord,  the  chief  elder  and 
bishop  of  souls,  the  good  shepherd,  to  whom  both  the  welfare 
of  the  individual  Christian  and  the  prosperity  and  progress  of 
the  church  are  a  care ;  and  the  significance  of  His  perfect 
humanity  and  spotless  human  life  as  an  example  to  all  classes 
and  conditions  of  believers  and  sanctifying  all  the  relationships 
of  life  into  which  they  are  brought  by  His  leading. 

In  various  details  the  terminology  of  Zinzendorf  became  obso- 
lete in  the  course  of  years.  But  from  the  Zinzendorfian  era 
the  Brethren's  Church  still  enjoys  the  heritage  of  a  precious 
heirloom,  a  theology  Johannean  rather  than  Pauline  in  its  domi- 
nant characteristics,  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  being  basic — not 
His  sovereignty,  nor  His  justice,  the  person  of  the  Redeemer 
being  central,  not  the  attributes  of  the  Godhead. 


196 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE  POSITION  OF  THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM  AT  THE  DEATH  OF 
ZINZENDORF. 

By  the  act  of  Parliament  in  1749  the  representatives  of  the 
Unity  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  in  the  colonies  passed 
from  the  status  of  unorganized  foreign  evangelicals  without 
rights  under  English  law,  and  dependent  upon  royal  toleration 
in  the  occupancy  of  an  undefined  position,  to  that  of  recognized 
liberty  of  operations  as  adherents  of  an  old  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.  One  point  was  not  definitely  settled,  the  right 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  a  whole  and  of  its  local  organizations 
to  hold  property  with  corporate  powers. 

In  other  lands  the  situation  varied.  In  Saxony  its  members 
were  regarded  as  constituting  the  Evangelical  Briidcr-Gcmciney 
adhering  to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  but  enjoying  Hberty 
of  ritual  and  discipline.  The  exact  measure  of  their  privileges 
depended  upon  the  tolerance  of  individual  lords  of  domain  and 
did  not  rest  upon  a  fundamental  concession  on  the  part  of  the 
government.  And  although  the  Saxon  congregations  practi- 
cally enjoyed  all  the  freedom  of  life  and  worship  which  they  de- 
sired, the  officials  of  the  country  ignored  the  management  of  the 
Unity  as  a  whole  and  the  connection  with  foreign  congrega- 
tions, as  things  extraneous  to  the  national  constitution. 

In  Prussia,  and  especially  in  Silesia,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
the  rescripts  of  1742,  1743  and  1746  had  conferred  special  privi- 
leges upon  the  "Moravian  Church"  and  its  settlements,  such  as 
independence  of  consistories,  and  the  freedom  of  alien  Brethren 
from  military  service,  they  were  not  recognized  as  adherents 
of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg.  As  defined  by  the  Codex 
Fridericianus,  their  position  was  rather  that  of  members  of  a 
tolerated  sect.  Unpleasant  consequences  had  resulted  from 
this — expulsion  from  Rossnitz  in  1749  in  the  face  of  the  conces- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


sion  of  1746,  and  a  series  of  pesteriiigs  on  the  part  of  sub- 
officials  who  annoyed  the  three  Silesian  settlements. 

As  to  the  three  other  German  congregations — Ebersdorf 
rested  only  on  the  concession  of  1745,  which  had  in  reality  been 
granted  to  an  organization  now  extinct  and  which  the  decrees 
of  1751  had  rendered  only  partly  relevant;  Neudietendorf  based 
its  existence  on  nothing  more  explicit  than  the  good-will  of  the 
lord  of  the  manor;  Neuwied  enjoyed  more  certainty  in  view  of 
its  concession  and  supplementaiy  decrees,  to  secure  which  had 
been  amongst  the  later  endeavors  of  Zinzendorf,  unwilling  as 
he  was  to  leave  any  conditions  that  might  permit  a  repetition 
of  the  Wetteravian  inequity. 

With  Holland  and  Denmark  negotiations  had  been  necessary 
for  the  conduct  of  the  missions  in  Surinam,  Greenland  and  the 
West  and  East  Indies.  Relationships  had  to  be  established 
both  with  trading  companies  and  with  the  governments.  At 
first  active  cooperation  or  at  least  warm  favor,  then  a  secret 
placing  of  hindrances  in  the  way  and  endeavors  to  thwart  the 
work,  and  even  open  opposition  had  been  characteristic  of  these 
bodies.  At  present  their  attitude  was  one  of  toleration  on  cer- 
tain conditions. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  Unity  in  relationship  to 
the  three  great  divisions  of  the  Protestant  Church,  the  question 
of  essential  agreement  or  of  practical  separatism  had  been 
passed  upon  by  the  faculty  of  Tubingen  in  1733  in  a  manner 
favorable  to  Herrnhut.  The  ultra-orthodox  party  in  Germany 
and  the  Hallensian  Pietists  took  another  view  of  the  case,  the 
latter  being  especially  aroused  by  Spangenberg's  transfer  of 
allegiance  to  Herrnhut  after  the  breach  had  begun  to  manifest 
itself,  and  by  the  outspoken  adherence  to  the  Moravian  episco- 
pate at  the  first  synod  of  Marienborn.  The  spread  of  opera- 
tions to  Holland  had  awakened  a  storm  of  opposition  from  the 
Reformed,  on  account  of  the  Brethren's  strong  repudiation  of 
the  doctrine  of  Reprobation.  After  Zinzendorf's  Christology 
departed  from  the  customary  method  of  presentation,  during 
his  absence  in  America  the  Bcdenken  of  the  Theological  Faculty 
of  Halle,  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Baumgarten,  sought  to  offset  the 
former  favorable  judgment  of  Tiibingen,  and  refused  to  recog- 
nize that  the  Brethren's  doctrinal  and  governmental  standpoint 
possessed  essential  affiliation  to  that  of  the  Evangelical  Church. 
The  Prussian  edict,  granting  the  Brethren  independence  of  the 


198 


A  HISTORY  OF 


consistorial  authorities  in  connection  with  the  estabhshment  of 
the  Silesian  settlements,  gave  countenance  to  the  Hallensian 
view.  Moreover,  the  Faculty  of  Tubingen  revoked  its  former 
decision,  owing  to  the  excesses  of  the  Wetteravian  era.  It 
seemed  as  though  the  ecclesiastical  character  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  would  be  thoroughly  discredited  by  continental  Protes- 
tantism, and  that  it  must  sink  into  the  category  of  a  schis- 
matic sect.  But  just  at  this  juncture  the  investigations  by  the 
Anglican  authorities  reached  a  favorable  issue.  Then  Saxony 
acknowledged  the  kinship  of  the  Moravians  to  the  adherents  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession.  They  themselves  manifested  suffi- 
cient soundness  to  cast  off  the  excrescences  of  the  Wetteravian 
era,  and  to  show  that  these  had  been  in  truth  extraneous  to 
their  essential  faith.  Since  1750  the  relationship  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  to  the  chief  divisions  of  the  Evangelical  Church  had 
been  a  subject  with  which  the  Brethren  had  busied  themselves 
but  little.  They  were  content  to  leave  it  to  the  less  partial  and 
more  intelligent  decision  of  futurity. 

Meantime  their  disinterested  activity  for  the  promotion  of 
spiritual  life  had  been  very  widely  exerted.  In  the  year  1756 
it  was  estimated  that  about  seventeen  thousand  persons,  be- 
longing to  other  communions,  were  identified  with  the  Diaspora 
societies  in  the  German  Empire  alone.  Lusatia,  Dresden,  Mag- 
deburg, Pommerania,  Brunswick,  Hanover,  Westphalia  and 
Holstein  were  centers  of  this  activity.  In  Copenhagen  a  society 
had  existed  in  spite  of  royal  disfavor  since  1731.  Thence  con- 
nections had  spread  to  Fiinen,  Jutland,  Norway,  Sweden.  The 
South  German,  Swiss  and  French  phases  of  the  work  had  at- 
tained importance.  In  and  about  Basel  one  thousand  persons 
were  affiliated.  In  the  Grisons  there  were  many  sympathizers. 
Hutton  had  been  at  Lausanne  since  1756,  and  had  established 
an  institute  to  train  men  for  work  among  the  French.  He  was 
in  friendly  connection  with  M.  Court,  of  the  Languedoc  Semi- 
nary, and  with  Paul  Rabaud  of  Nismes.  At  Montpellier  and 
Bordeaux  the  Brethren  were  active.  The  earlier  and  widely 
extended  field  of  operations  in  the  Baltic  Provinces  had  passed 
through  a  period  of  special  trial  in  1743.  in  consequence  of  the 
fanaticism  of  Biefer  and  others.  Hostility  had  been  aroused 
and  repressive  edicts  had  inhibited  the  work.  Yet  with  the 
repudiation  of  ultra-emotionalism,  by  the  adoption  of  a  more 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


199 


subdued  and  sober  method  quiet  good  was  being  accomplished 
in  spite  of  restrictions. 

Thus  the  Unity  at  the  death  of  its  resuscitator,  although  not 
fully  assured  as  to  permanence  in  certain  territories,  had 
achieved  a  position  of  significant  influence,  its  actual  importance 
being  measurable  not  merely  by  the  number  of  those  who  pub- 
Hcly  avowed  themselves  its  constituents,  but  rather  by  the  wide- 
spread agencies  which  it  brought  to  bear  upon  the  spirit  and 
principles  of  a  far  larger  number  of  such  who  continued  to  re- 
main outward  adherents  of  the  principal  confessional  churches. 


200 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


PROVISIONAL  ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  SUPERVISION,  AND  THE  AFFAIRS 
OF  THE  CHURCH  ON  THE  CONTINENT,  TO  THE 
CONSTITUTIONAL  SYNOD  OF  I769. 

The  leaders  of  the  church  who  had  been  present  at  the  funeral 
of  Zinzendorf  met  two  weeks  later  at  Herrnhut  to  determine 
upon  some  provisional  administration  of  its  aflfairs.  Amongst 
them  were  Bishop  John  de  Watteville,  the  Counts  Reuss,  Jonas 
Paulus  Weiss,  Frederick  de  Watteville,  Layritz,  Kober,  Leonard 
Dober,  Bishops  Grasmann  and  John  Nitschmann,  John  Nitsch- 
mann,  jr.,  Vierorth,  Peistel,  Anderson,  Von  Seidlitz,  Waiblinger, 
Toltschig,  Von  Marschall  and  Seidel,  representative  men, 
although  not  specially  commissioned  to  act  in  the  church's  name 
in  the  emergency.  They  concluded  to  adhere  to  existing  ar- 
rangements as  far  as  practicable.  Hence  as  the  various  con- 
ferrees  returned  to  their  distant  posts,  an  advisory  committee 
was  formed  by  residuary  process,  consisting  of  the  five  members 
of  the  former  directing  board,  together  with  John  de  Watteville. 
The  abrogation  of  the  Jiingerhaus  was  determined,  and  Span- 
genberg  was  to  take  a  seat  in  the  ad  interim  conference.  In 
the  event  he  practically  became  the  leader.  His  wholesome 
theological  standpoint  and  his  marked  executive  ability  served 
as  a  complement  for  Kober's  courageous  and  sound  financial 
management  and  prevented  disintegration.  It  was  demon- 
strated that  the  Lord  had  further  employment  for  the  Unitas 
Fratrum.  The  predictions  of  its  enemies  failed  of  fulfillment. 
The  Unitas  Fratrum  as  an  organic  factor  in  the  ecclesiastical 
life  of  the  age  was  found  to  be  not  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
personality  and  generous  liberality  of  its  resuscitator.  The 
concept  of  the  tropes  did  not  afford  lines  of  cleavage,  nor  facili- 
tate the  amalgamation  of  the  various  congregations  with  the 
national  churches  of  the  lands  in  which  the  Brethren  had  been 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


20 1 


active.  These  and  the  Diaspora  societies  were  yet  to  minister 
to  the  inner  life  of  Protestant  Christendom. 

But  the  larger  movements  of  the  age  severely  tested  the 
organization  which  Zinzendorf  had  rebuilt.  The  terrible  and 
resultful  Seven  Years'  War,  which  was  to  establish  a  dual  lead- 
ership in  Germany,  emancipate  and  anew  nationalize  German 
intellectual  life,  practically  give  the  exclusive  possession  of 
North  America  to  the  EngHsh  race,  prepare  for  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  thirteen  colonies,  and  also  hasten  the  alienation 
of  the  populace  of  France  from  the  monarchy,  was  still  at  its 
height.  From  the  summer  of  1760  to  its  close  it  proved  par- 
ticularly exhausting  to  the  Silesian  and  Saxon  congregations. 
Financial  cares  increased.  Not  more  than  three-fifths  of  the 
interest  on  the  debt  could  be  raised  by  contributions.  On  the 
other  hand,  complaint  arose  regarding  luxurious  living  where 
the  abnormal  local  prosperity  of  war  times  made  its  appear- 
ance. Unity  of  purpose  and  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the 
church  were  weakened. 

With  the  approval  of  the  advisory  committee  John  de  Watte- 
ville  therefore  undertook  an  extended  official  visit — Niesky, 
Kleinwelke,  Barby,  Zeist,  England.  After  inspecting  the  British 
congregations  and  convening  a  provincial  synod,  he  returned 
to  Hernhut  by  way  of  Zeist,  Neuwied  and  Ebersdorf.  His  help- 
ful and  conciHatory  disposition,  as  contrasted  with  the  endow- 
ment of  an  ability  to  organize,  rendered  it  natural  that  he  had 
been  assigned  to  this  duty.  Yet  in  effect  it  hastened  a  crisis 
which  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  more  definite  polity.  Certain 
Brethren  became  apprehensive  of  an  autocratic  primacy,  a  dom- 
inance of  the  individual  in  the  administration  of  affairs.  Moved 
by  this  apprehension,  Kober  on  January  21,  1762,  addressed  to 
the  members  of  the  advisory  conference  a  letter  containing  cer- 
tain reflections  upon  the  supervision  of  the  Unity,  in  which  he 
declared  that  the  authority  and  power  formerly  vested  in  Zin- 
zendorf ought  not  to  be  committed  to  any  one  person.  It 
should  rather  be  a  function  of  the  general  synod,  which  ought 
to  be  convoked  as  soon  as  possible.  The  complete  absence  of 
ulterior  designs  from  the  mind  of  De  Watteville  was  demon- 
strated by  the  fraternal  manner  in  which  he  received  this  com- 
munication. He  himself  shared  Kober's  views.  Now  the  arri- 
val of  Spangenberg  from  America  proved  opportune.  His  ripe 
years  (he  was  fifty-eight),  his  placid  but  strongly  masculine  dis- 


202 


A  HISTORY  OF 


position,  his  candor,  his  wisdom,  his  executive  ability  and 
knowledge  of  affairs  and  his  deep  experimental  piety  all  ren- 
dered him  peculiarly  the  man  to  harmonize  differences  of  view 
and  diversities  of  gifts  amongst  his  associates.  Possessing 
neither  the  ultra-practical  bent  of  Kober  nor  the  one-sided  ten- 
dency to  religious  sentimentality  to  which  De  Watteville  leaned, 
he  combined  in  his  own  person  the  distinctive  excellencies  of 
them  both. 

Foremost  amongst  the  tasks  which  confronted  the  Enge  Con- 
ferenz  as  the  ad  interim  board  of  management  had  been  named 
since  May,  1762 — its  members  being  besides  Spangenberg,  the 
De  Wattevilles,  Kober,  Abraham  von  Gersdorf,  Leonard  Dober, 
Grasmann,  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  Weiss  and  Layritz — 
was  that  of  defining  the  financial  relationship  between  the 
church  and  the  heirs  of  Zinzendorf.  But  discussion  and  the 
appeal  to  the  lot  in  connection  therewith  caused  a  temporary 
retention  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs.  In  addition  to  provid- 
ing for  the  interest  on  the  debt,  about  ten  housand  thaler  were 
required  for  the  general  obligations  of  the  church.  Hence  it 
was  determined  that  half  of  the  revenues  of  the  estates  should 
be  annually  applied  to  the  general  needs,  including  the  meeting 
of  the  accounts  of  the  Zinzendorf  family,  the  support  of  the 
laborers  of  the  church  and  the  payment  of  pensions. 

At  length  the  critically  important  synod  convened  in  the 
castle  of  Marienborn  on  July  2,  1764.  In  was  constituted  of  the 
members  of  the  previous  board  of  management,  the  lords  of 
domain  of  several  estates  where  settlements  had  been  formed  in 
accordance  with  special  concessions,  the  representatives  of  vari- 
ous congregations  explicitly  authorized  to  act  in  their  name, 
and  a  number  of  specially  appointed  brethren — ninety  in  all. 
The  chair  was  occupied  in  turn  by  John  de  Watteville,  Spangen- 
berg, Leonard  Dober  and  Frederick  de  Watteville. 

At  the  outset  apparently  irreconcilable  diversities  of  opinion 
came  to  the  surface.  Attaching  strenuous  importance  as  they 
did  to  what  they  believed  to  be  the  guidance  of  the  Lord  through 
the  use  of  the  lot,  this  divergence  of  views  led  the  members 
to  believe  that  He  desired  to  convey  a  special  message  to  the 
Brethren's  Church  at  this  time.  Accordingly  a  committee  was 
appointed  from  the  expressed  opinions  of  whose  members 
twelve  concise  declarations  were  formulated  and  submitted 
seriatim  to  the  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  lot.    In  this  man- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


203 


ner  a  series  of  sentences  came  before  the  synod,  which  were 
taken  to  be  the  message  of  the  Head  of  the  church  to  His  ser- 
vants at  this  juncture.  They  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression. 
In  them  the  ministers  were  rebuked  for  seeking  their  own  and 
striving  too  much  to  carry  out  their  own  personal  ideas  in  the 
management  of  the  Unity  and  in  the  life  of  the  congregations. 
The  spirit  of  worldly-mindedness  and  an  undue  pursuit  of  riches 
and  temporal  prosperity  were  uncovered.  Searchings  of  heart 
were  called  forth,  that  were  productive  of  confession  and  resulted 
in  a  very  brotherly  spirit  of  reconsecration. 

Being  thus  inwardly  prepared,  they  then  proceeded  to  frame  a 
constitution  on  the  basis  of  a  theocratic  republic.  The  Breth- 
ren's Church  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  Unity  in  all  its  parts,  gov- 
erned by  a  general  synod,  in  the  intervals  of  whose  meeting  an 
executive  board  elected  by  the  synod  and  responsible  to  it  shall 
superintend  afifairs.  To  this  board  the  local  boards  of  each  con- 
gregation are  subordinated.  As  first  chosen  the  Directoriiim  or 
Directory,  as  it  was  entitled,  consisted  of  John  de  Watteville, 
Spangenberg,  Leonard  Dober,  David  Nitschmann  the  Syndic, 
Bohler,  WaibHnger,  Christian  Gregor  and  Wenceslaus  Neisser. 
Besides  there  was  to  be  a  Board  of  Syndics  to  take  charge  of 
negotiations  with  governments  and  the  civil  status  of  the  settle- 
ments, and  a  Unity's  Warden's  Board  to  manage  the  finances  of 
the  church. 

The  consideration  of  the  financial  question  presented  peculiar 
perplexities.  Zinzendorf  had  left  four  heirs ;  three  daughters, 
Benigna,  the  wife  of  John  de  Watteville,  Agnes  and  Elizabeth, 
and  Count  Reuss,  the  nephew  of  his  wife.  In  law  these  were 
now  the  owners  of  the  estates  of  Berthelsdorf  and  Hennersdorf ; 
but  at  the  same  time  it  was  undeniable  that  these  properties  had 
been  pledged  for  the  debts  of  the  church.  Both  the  heirs  of  the 
Count  and  the  leaders  of  the  Brethren  now  displayed  a  noble 
spirit.  The  former  were  quite  willing  to  allow  the  old  methods 
to  continue,  and  to  permit  the  estates  to  be  used  as  hitherto. 
The  latter  desired  to  end  if  possible  their  utter  obligation  to  the 
Zinzendorf  family  and  solve  the  intricate  questions  involved. 
The  final  outcome  of  the  negotiations  was  that  a  capital  of 
$90,000  was  paid  out,  half  to  Count  Reuss  and  half  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  Zinzendorf,  and  the  church  became  the  owner  of  the  es- 
tates, assuming  all  the  indebtedness  that  had  been  contracted  by 
the  former  owner  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's  cause.  Of 


204 


A  HISTORY  OF 


personal  debts  he  had  none.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  great  act 
of  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  daughters  of  Zinzendorf  in  par- 
ticular, who  thus  relinquished  the  hope  that  their  posterity 
would  ever  come  into  possession  of  their  noble  paternal  domain. 
The  debt  on  the  other  hand  amounted  to  $773,162. 

The  synod  had  meant  well  and  had  acted  according  to  its  best 
judgment ;  but  in  the  event  it  was  found  to  have  devised  a  very 
complicated  piece  of  machinery  for  the  general  management  of 
the  Unity.  The  relative  rights,  powers,  functions  and  responsi- 
bilities of  the  three  boards  had  not  been  clearly  defined.  Their 
spheres  of  business  at  times  overlapped.  Moreover  the  pecuUar 
relationship  of  certain  members  of  the  Directorium  to  their  col- 
leagues in  virtue  of  their  having  seats  in  the  two  secondary  or 
coordinate  conferences,  was  calculated  to  furnish  opportunity 
for  misunderstanding.  Layritz,  Gregor  and  Neisser  belonged 
both  to  the  Directorium  and  to  the  Unity's  Wardens  Board;  Fred- 
erick de  Watteville  had  a  vote  in  the  Directorium  and  in  the 
Board  of  Syndics.  Each  of  the  three  conferences  was  also 
hampered  by  the  fact  that  it  was  constituted  of  both  resident 
and  non-resident  members,  the  latter  in  some  instances  being 
scarcely  more  than  correspondents.  Among  the  members  of 
the  Directorium  Nitschmann  and  Waiblinger  were  general  super- 
visors in  Holland  and  Silesia.  The  Board  of  Syndics  had  seven 
members  in  Herrnhut,  three  in  other  German  congregations, 
two  in  England  and  North  America.  The  Unity's  Warden's 
Board  reckoned  seven  absentees  in  addition  to  eleven  residents. 
And  finally  absences  on  special  commissions  sometimes  lasted 
for  months.  Hence  the  test  of  time  taught  the  need  of  simpli- 
fying this  unwieldy  contrivance. 

Nevertheless  men  are  of  more  consequence  than  machinery, 
and  an  unskillfully  designed  mode  of  operation  if  thoroughly 
employed  will  disclose  more  valuable  results  than  a  most  care- 
fully adjusted  code  of  regulations  left  to  attain  achievements 
merely  by  its  inherent  excellence.  Fortunately  here  were  men 
of  rich  endowments  and  sincerely  desirous  to  obtain  the  Lord's 
guidance  that  they  might  work  out  His  will.  Their  ranks  in- 
deed did  not  remain  unbroken.  Leonard  Dober,  whose  un- 
feigned and  unobtrusive  consecration,  clear  perception  and 
calmly  judicial  spirit  had  long  been  recognized  and  prized,  died 
on  April  i,  1766.  He  was  in  his  sixty-first  year.  He  was  fol- 
lowed on  July  3  by  Baron  Ernest  Julius  von  Seidlitz,  the  patron 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


20$ 


of  the  Silesian  congregations  since  1742.  Shortly  before  his 
death  he  had  purchased  the  estate  of  Paulowitzka,  near  Kosel, 
and  had  offered  it  as  a  settlement  for  Moravians.  This  offer 
was  not  the  only  one  in  Silesia.  Herr  von  Heyde,  who  had 
recently  joined  the  church,  offered  to  the  Board  of  Syndics  for 
a  similar  purpose  land  at  Habendorf,  near  Gnadenfrei  and 
Reichenbach.  But  his  plan  could  not  be  entertained  owing  to 
an  imperfect  guarantee  of  civil  rights.  With  Paulowitzka  it 
went  otherwise.  Families  moved  thither  from  Rossnitz,  where 
adverse  circumstances  had  counteracted  the  conceded  privileges, 
and  an  endeavor  was  made  to  secure  a  transfer  of  the  conces- 
sion from  Rossnitz  to  the  new  locality.  But  the  reply  from 
Berlin  did  not  correspond  to  the  expectations  of  the  Brethren. 
Hence  the  only  alternative  was  to  establish  at  this  new  center, 
named  Gnadenfeld,  in  the  midst  of  a  Polish  Roman  Catholic 
people,  a  country  congregation  whose  regulations  bore  some 
resemblance  to  those  of  contemporaneous  country  charges  in 
America. 

With  the  conclusion  of  the  war  a  period  of  growth  and  pros- 
perity had  dawned  for  the  Silesian  and  Prussian  work.  In  Rix- 
dorf  a  new  church  had  been  built  in  1761,  and  Grasmann  con- 
templated the  extension  of  activity  amongst  Bohemians.  At  a 
Silesian  Provincial  Synod  in  1765  it  had  been  decided  not  to 
employ  here  the  Diaspora  plan  with  reference  to  those  who  de- 
sired fellowship  with  the  Unity,  but  to  receive  them  into  full 
membership,  a  step  favored  by  the  members  of  the  Directorium 
who  were  present  and  by  Spangenberg  in  particular.  Gnaden- 
frei grew,  and  the  numbers  attracted  by  the  preaching  of 
Clemens  reached  such  proportions  that  a  new  church  had  to  be 
built.  Although  financial  difficulties  attended  the  restoration 
of  the  Brethren's  quarter  in  Neusalz,  it  was  steadily  prosecuted. 
Gnadenberg,  however,  still  felt  the  stress  of  bitter  opposition. 

In  Saxony  a  new  settlement  was  commenced,  Gnadau,  three 
miles  distant  from  Barby,  in  the  direction  of  Magdeburg.  Im- 
petus thereto  was  given  by  the  flourishing  condition  of  the 
numerous  Diaspora  circles  of  the  district  and  by  the  renewal  of 
the  lease  of  the  Barby  estate. 

For  the  Lusatian  congregations  and  especially  for  Herrnhut 
an  era  of  prosperity  had  dawned.  Its  industries  had  acquired 
an  enviable  reputation,  and  after  the  visit  of  Joseph  II,  in  June, 
1766,  the  Saxon  court  manifestated  decided  favor.    Yet  causes 


206 


A  HISTORY  OF 


for  apprehension  were  not  absent.  The  very  prosperity  dis- 
closed, if  it  did  not  incite,  a  tendency  towards  independence  of 
the  "choir"  establishments  each  for  itself,  to  the  loss  of  a  spirit 
of  cooperation  with  the  entire  financial  and  industrial  life  of  the 
Unity. 

The  western  congregations  also  shared  in  the  general  pros- 
perity. Neuwied  schools  were  attracting  attention,  and  Zeist 
enjoyed  the  countenance  of  the  Statthalter  of  Holland  and  of 
King  Christian  VII  of  Denmark. 

But  in  one  quarter  disappointment  was  experienced.  During 
and  after  the  synod  a  hope  had  been  entertained  that  the  con- 
gregation at  Herrnhaag  might  be  renewed.  Kober  had  been 
in  negotiation  with  Councillor  Brauer,  the  adviser  of  the  Counts 
von  Biidingen,  and  had  secured  from  him  an  acknowledgment 
that  the  contract  of  1743  was  still  valid,  and  that  in  consequence 
the  church  was  entitled  to  compensation  for  losses  entailed  by 
the  expulsion  of  the  Brethren  from  Wetteravia.  Yet  in  the 
name  of  his  principals  Brauer  had  declined  to  negotiate  with  the 
Directory  as  such  on  the  ground  that  the  sway  of  this  board 
over  the  members  of  a  settlement  congregation,  alleged  by  him 
to  be  as  absolute  as  that  of  Zinzendorf  formerly,  was  incom- 
patible with  their  fealty  to  the  feudal  authorities.  Meantime, 
in  the  year  1765,  Count  Gustavus  Frederick  von  Biidingen  had 
dismissed  Brauer  from  his  service,  and  was  understood  to  have 
given  some  intimation  of  a  desire  to  see  the  abandoned  Wet- 
teravian  settlement  reoccupied.  Neisser  and  Loretz  were  there- 
iore  appointed  special  commissioners  to  represent  the  Direc- 
tory in  this  business,  and  received  assistance  from  Privy  Coun- 
cillor George  von  Spangenberg,  the  Bishop's  brother,  and  Fred- 
erick Charles  von  Moser,  faithful  friends  of  the  Unity  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  circumstances.  In  spite  of  Brauer's  active 
opposition,  exerted  through  another  channel,  a  scheme  for  a 
new  contract  was  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of  that  of  1743.  But 
before  a  conclusion  was  reached  Count  Gustavus  Frederick 
died,  and  his  brother,  Lewis  Casimir,  who  succeeded  him,  broke 
off  the  negotiations,  influenced  by  his  wife,  a  member  of  the 
unfriendly  family  of  Wernigerode.  The  rest  of  the  story  of  the 
Wetteravian  connection  is  soon  told.  In  1773  the  land  and 
buildings  of  Herrnhaag  were  sold  to  a  clergyman  named  Agri- 
cola.  About  the  same  time  the  lease  of  Marienborn  expired 
and  the  few  members  of  the  church  who  had  been  living  there 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


207 


moved  away.  Before  this,  however,  it  became  the  seat  of  another 
and  a  very  important  general  synod. 

To  this  period  belongs  the  publication  of  Cranz's  Historic  von 
Grbnland,  which  appeared  in  1765.  The  author  had  been  sent 
to  make  investigations  on  the  spot.  His  simple  and  unaffect- 
edly direct  style,  the  intrinsic  interest  of  the  unique  transac- 
tions his  work  recorded,  and  its  demonstration  of  the  power  of 
the  gospel  amongst  the  most  unenlightened  savages,  won  for 
it  such  general  recognition  that  a  second  edition  was  demanded 
within  five  years,  and  it  has  since  been  translated  into  Dutch, 
English  and  Swedish. 

Now  also  the  first  systematic  attempt  to  collect  and  arrange 
the  archives  of  the  church  was  made  by  a  special  committee — 
Abraham  von  Gersdorf,  Peter  Bohler,  Charles  Frederick 
Reichel,  Otto  WiUiam  Hasse  and  Eric  von  Ranzau.  The  castle 
at  Zeist  was  the  scene  of  their  labors,  begun  in  the  summer  of 
1765.  Hither  the  most  important  documents  had  been  brought 
from  Lusatia  and  from  Lindsey  House. 

The  mortuary  record  of  the  period  includes  the  deaths  of 
several  prominent  personages.  The  venerable  Judith  Nitsch- 
mann,  the  mother  of  David  Nitschmann  the  Syndic,  herself  the 
granddaughter  of  Martin  Schneider  of  Zauchtenthal,  the  con- 
temporary of  Comenius,  fell  asleep  in  Herrnhut  in  1765,  in  her 
ninety-third  year.  At  Frankfort-on-the-Main  that  indefatig- 
able herald  of  the  church,  Conrad  Lange,  ended  his  wanderings 
in  1767.  During  his  thirty-four  years  of  activity  he  had  visited 
Holstein,  Holland,  Wetteravia,  Brandenburg,  Thuringia,  Alsace, 
Wiirttemberg,  Franconia,  Poland,  and  Russia — in  the  last  in- 
stance en  route  for  China.  In  1768  Christian  Godfrey  Marche 
died  at  Herrnhut,  for  whose  modest  beginnings  his  words  of 
cheer  and  those  of  Heitz  had  been  so  helpful.  He  was  now  an 
aged  sire  of  seventy-four  winters.  There  was  a  peculiar  fitness 
in  his  spending  the  evening  of  his  life,  since  1763,  in  the  town 
which  had  arisen  in  accordance  with  the  expectations  of  his 
faith. 


208 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


THE  COLONY  OF  THE  VOLGA.  1762-I765. 

Observation  of  the  actual  life  of  the  Moravians  in  their 
villages  during  the  Seven  Years'  War  had  been  potent  in  re- 
moving prejudices;  it  also  led  to  the  extension  of  their  activity 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Russian  Empire  on  the  invitation  of 
the  Czarina  herself.  This  involved  a  reversal  of  the  jealous 
exclusivism  of  the  Russian  authorities,  exemplified  in  the  im- 
prisonment in  St.  Petersburg  of  two  friendly  Livonian  pastors, 
Gutsleff  and  Holterhof  and  two  agents  of  Diaspora  activity, 
the  Brethren  Fritsche  and  Kriigelstein,  in  1749.  On  the  death 
of  the  first  named  the  rest  had  been  banished  to  Kasan,  Holter- 
hof alone  receiving  his  liberty  in  1762,  after  his  companions 
had  also  died. 

The  chief  agent  in  the  initiatory  steps  which  now  secured  a 
welcome,  was  General  Zacharias  von  Czernitschefif,  who  had 
learnt  to  personally  esteem  Moravian  integrity  and  thrift  dur- 
ing the  course  of  his  campaigns.  At  his  request,  towards  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  his  brother  Ivan, 
a  dignitary  of  the  Empire,  had  sent  an  invitation  to  the  Confer- 
ence at  Herrnhut  soliciting  the  establishment  of  a  Moravian 
settlement  on  his  estate  near  Moscow,  but  no  guarantee  of 
governmental  toleration  could  be  given.  In  1762  Catherine  II 
seized  the  reins  of  power  from  her  husband,  Peter  III,  whose 
assassination  followed.  Though  the  overthrow  of  the  Hol- 
steiner  had  been  accomplished  by  her  adroit  flattery  of  Rus- 
sian prejudices,  she  had  the  wisdom  to  perceive  that  the  civi- 
lization of  the  people  over  whom  she  ruled,  and  with  regard 
to  whom  Peter  the  Great  had  recently  said,  "We  have  to  do  with 
barbarians  who  are  digging  the  grave  of  humanity,"  required 
to  be  furthered  by  a  liberal  patronage  of  culture  and  industry 
through  an  infusion  of  foreign  blood.  Colonization  must  be 
encouraged  on  a  large  scale,  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  ritual 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


209 


limited  only  by  the  inhibition  of  proselytism,  and  freedom  from 
taxation  and  military  service  promised  for  a  number  of  years. 

After  the  appearance  of  the  Ukase  which  announced  this 
complete  alteration  of  Russian  poHcy  in  December  1762,  Count 
Czernitscheff  renewed  his  proposals  to  the  authorities  at  Herrn- 
hut.  But  they  still  demurred,  renewing  their  conditions  of 
acceptance — thorough  investigation  and  approval  of  the  doc- 
trines and  usages  of  the  Unity  by  an  imperial  commission,  with 
expHcit  authorization  to  colonize.  This  brought  to  Herrnhut 
in  September,  1763,  Councilor  Von  Kohler  by  command  of  the 
Czarina,  and  on  his  return  Layritz  and  Loretz  accompanied 
him  to  complete  the  negotiations. 

Catharine  was  very  gracious.  She  assured  that  the  Mora- 
vian colonists  shovild  enjoy  all  necessary  civil  and  religious 
privileges.  A  commission  of  investigation  had  already  been 
appointed,  consisting  of  Count  Orlofif  and  Demetrius  Arch- 
bishop of  Novgorod.  The  selection  of  just  these  men  was  in 
itself  a  token  of  favor,  promising  fair  treatment.  The  latter 
reported  to  the  Holy  Synod  so  favorably  that  it  recognized 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  an  ancient  and  legitimate  church,  pos- 
sessed of  regulations  and  discipline  after  the  pattern  of  primi- 
tive Christianity.  But  at  the  same  time  this  prelate  in  private 
and  the  synod  in  its  official  utterances  gave  the  Brethren  to 
tmderstand,  that  they  must  not  reckon  on  ever  obtaining  per- 
mission to  conduct  operations  amongst  members  of  the  Greek 
Church  or  to  gain  proselj'tes  therefrom.  In  as  much  as  they 
entertained  no  such  purpose,  the  warning  seemed  inapposite. 
When,  however,  the  deputies  brought  forward  the  question  of 
missions  to  the  heathen  Kalmucks,  much  though  Russia  desired 
to  profit  by  the  introduction  of  industries,  difficulties  arose. 
Avoidance  of  a  direct  reply  on  the  part  of  the  archbishop  was 
followed  by  a  refusal  of  further  interviews,  and  finally  it  became 
known  that  the  clergy  had  urgently  represented  to  the  Czarina 
the  necessity  of  inserting  a  clause  in  the  concession,  prohibiting 
the  establishment  of  missions  amongst  her  heathen  subjects. 
This  threatened  to  bring  negotiations  to  an  abrupt  end,  for 
the  Brethren  declared  that  on  such  terms  the  Moravian  Church 
could  not  avail  itself  of  the  promised  liberties.  The  govern- 
ment, however,  was  not  satisfied  to  let  the  afifair  drop,  but 
endeavored  to  mediate  between  the  ecclesiastics  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Unity.  The  latter  at  last  had  to  content  them- 
15 


210 


A  HISTORY  OF 


selves  with  the  equivocal  verbal  declaration  "that  the  Brethren 
need  fear  no  prevention  of  their  converting  the  heathen.  On 
the  contrary  it  would  be  acceptable  to  her  majesty,  if  all  her 
heathen  subjects  should  become  Christians." 

On  Februar}'  ii,  1764,  old  style,  an  edict  was  published,  com- 
municating the  favorable  decision  of  the  Holy  Synod,  and 
granting  permission  to  members  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to 
freely  colonize  in  any  part  of  the  Russian  Empire,  with  com- 
plete liberty  of  conscience  and  religion,  including  dispensa- 
tion from  all  judicial  oaths  except  that  of  fealty.  Furthermore 
the  Czarina  stated  that  she  would  take  them  under  her  own 
special  protection.  In  a  farewell  audience  she  personally  inti- 
mated that  it  would  give  her  satisfaction  to  have  the  proposed 
colony  settle  in  the  Province  of  Astrakhan. 

The  consideration  of  this  important  report  was  referred  to 
the  general  synod.  This  body  took  favorable  action,  it  having 
been  ascertained  that  Kalmucks  were  to  be  found  in  Astrakhan, 
and  it  being  thought  that  this  might  become  a  strategic  point 
for  missions  amongst  the  Turks  and  other  Mohammedans. 
Five  Brethren  were  selected  as  pioneers,  with  Daniel  Henry 
Fick  as  their  leader  and  pastor.  Peter  Conrad  Fries  was  dis- 
patched to  St.  Petersburg,  to  conduct  further  negotiations  ac- 
cording to  necessity.  A  native  of  Montbeliard,  whilst  pastor 
of  the  neighboring  Hericourt  he  had  become  acquainted  with 
Zinzendorf's  writings  and  so  had  been  drawn  to  the  Brethren's 
Church.  Of  late  the  Diaspora  in  and  around  Geneva  had  been 
his  field.  His  companion  in  the  present  instances  was  Eric 
Westmann,  a  man  of  considerable  experience  in  outlying  posts, 
after  1746  an  itinerant  in  Pennsylvania  and  Xew  Jersey,  in  1749 
a  missionary  on  the  island  of  St.  Thomas,  and  in  1750  again  ac- 
tive in  America.  From  the  primeval  forests  and  primitive  settle- 
ments along  the  Delaware  and  the  glades  and  swamps  of  New 
Sweden,  it  was  a  considerable  remove  to  the  banks  of  the  Volga. 
But  in  this  wide  sweep  of  activity  he  was  a  typical  servant  of 
the  church.  Nor  were  his  wanderings  to  cease  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Europe.  Five  years  hence  he  should  be  sent  as  mis- 
sionary to  Guinea.  But  at  present  his  practical  knowledge  of 
the  needs  of  colonists  is  to  be  at  the  service  of  Fries  in  mak- 
ing purchases  for  the  pioneers,  and  after  accompanying  them 
to  their  destination,  he  will  report  to  the  directing  board. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


211 


It  was  not  until  the  end  of  March,  1767,  that  all  points  of 
difference  between  the  government  that  desired  them  for  purely- 
industrial  reasons  and  the  colonists  who  had  the  good  of  souls  in 
view,  were  finally  adjusted.  At  last  on  the  27th  Catharine  ap- 
pended her  signature  to  the  charter  which  actually  conferred 
the  long  debated  concessions  and  privileges.  These  included 
the  right  to  establish  houses  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  as 
agencies ;  and  in  them  also  the  ritual  of  the  Brethren  might 
legally  be  observed  as  in  private  chapels. 

The  pioneers  had  arrived  in  St.  Petersburg  by  way  of  Liibeck 
and  the  Baltic  in  June,  1765.  They  were  Daniel  Henry  Fick, 
Christian  Frederick  Rabel,  Nils  Hoy,  Louis  Brodberg,  and 
Jacob  Brey,  Scandinavians,  Germans  and  Swiss.  Brodberg 
alone  understood  the  Russian  language.  He  had  been  born 
at  Tobolsk,  the  son  of  a  Swedish  prisoner  of  war.  Even  his 
knowledge  was  scanty.  With  them,  when  they  left  the  capital 
at  midnight  on  June  26,  journeyed  Westmann,  as  temporary- 
warden,  and  Charles  Hussy  as  interpreter.  Other  companions 
were  Christian  Busch,  a  member  of  the  church,  but  appointed 
assistant  to  the  Lutheran  pastor  Neubauer  in  Astrakhan,  and 
Abraham  Louis  Brandt,  to  whose  facile  industry  in  the  por- 
traiture of  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Unity  in  his  day  Herrnhut 
still  testifies  a  generous  indebtedness,  now  appointed  special 
agent  in  Astrakhan  itself.  Sympathetic  Von  Kohler  also  went 
part  of  the  way.  So  with  seventeen  horses  distributed  amongst 
their  seven  wagons,  they  experienced  all  the  discomforts  of 
characteristically  bad  roads,  dust,  vermin  and  accidents  to  axles 
and  wheels  and  harness,  until  the  tedious  stretch  of  country  to 
Nijni  Novgorod  had  been  covered,  the  weariness  being  indeed 
broken  by  a  brief  halt  and  the  experience  of  fraternal  hospi- 
tality at  the  hands  of  Holterhof  at  Moscow.  A  vessel  was  now 
chartered.  Laden  with  baggage  and  the  dismantled  wagons, 
it  left  the  wharf  at  Novgorod  on  July  ig.  And  thus  they  made 
Saratov,  having  landed  at  Kazan  to  visit  the  graves  of  Kriigel- 
stein  and  Fritsche  and  arrange  for  their  fitting  preservation. 
From  Saratov  a  troop  of  ten  Cossacks,  with  officers  who  were 
to  survey  the  grant  of  land,  escorted  them  to  Zarizin,  where 
they  arrived  on  August  12.  Finally,  on  the  15th,  their  toilsome 
wanderings  came  to  an  end  with  the  selection  of  a  site  for  the 
future  town  on  the  Sarpa,  a  small  stream  tributary  to  the  mighty 
Volga. 


212 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  features  of  the  landscape  corresponded  very  little  to  their 
preconceptions  or  to  the  anticipations  created  by  the  descrip- 
tions given  them  at  the  capital.  The  very  volume  of  the  great 
river  and  its  steep  banks  would  deter  from  any  attempt  to  utilize 
it  for  irrigation  or  the  driving  of  mills.  Though  an  island  in  its 
midst  was  wooded,  forests  like  those  with  which  Westmann  had 
become  familiar  in  Pennsylvania  were  altogether  wanting.  The 
land  was  almost  treeless,  and  near  the  river  was  rent  into 
ravines  by  the  annual  inundations  caused  by  the  melting  snows. 
The  herds  of  the  Kalmucks  roamed  at  large  over  the  steppes 
which  their  owners  rendered  insecure.  The  prospect  for  suc- 
cessful cultivation  was  poor.  Nevertheless  with  prayer  and 
faith  the  Brethren  commenced  the  onerous  task  of  securing  a 
home  in  the  wilderness.  The  governor  of  the  province  ordered 
about  8,000  acres  to  be  surveyed  on  their  side  of  the  river,  and 
added  to  their  domain  about  1,000  acres  on  the  island.  On 
September  3  the  foundations  of  the  first  house  were  solemnly 
laid,  amidst  prayers  for  the  guardian  care  and  blessing  of  the 
Almighty,  and  thus  Sarepta,  designed  as  a  city  of  the  true  God 
amongst  the  heathen,  began  to  be.  So  isolated  was  the  posi- 
tion of  the  six  foreigners  that  first  winter,  that  the  government 
made  good  its  promise  of  protection  by  assigning  them  a  guard 
of  seven  soldiers.  Westmann  meantime  returned  to  Germany 
to  report ;  but  Brandt  had  found  little  to  do  as  agent  at 
Astrakhan,  and  therefore  joined  his  Brethren  in  the  humble 
house  beside  the  Sarpa. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


213 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  UNITY  IN  BRITAIN  AND  IRELAND,  FROM  THE 
DEATH  OF  ZINZENDORF  TO  THE  SYNOD  OF  I769. 

In  general  three  features  characterize  the  activity  of  the  Unity 
in  Britain  during  the  years  under  review.  On  the  one  hand, 
attention  is  being  paid  to  the  consoUdation  of  the  work  pre- 
viously commenced,  and  there  is  a  tendency  to  centralize  in  the 
various  settlement-congregations,  modeled  after  the  pattern  of 
a  German  Ortsgemeine.  In  the  second  place,  the  working  out 
of  the  financial  resolutions  of  the  synod  of  1764,  in  their  bear- 
ing upon  the  personal  responsibility  of  members  for  the  debt 
of  the  church,  and  in  their  effect  upon  the  title  to  the  proper- 
ties of  the  Unity  and  of  the  congregations,  presented  problems 
the  adjustment  of  which  required  time  and  delicate  considera- 
tion. In  the  third  place,  efforts  at  extension  were  not  aban- 
doned, Ireland  and  Scotland  and  Wales  being  each  the  theater 
of  new  activities. 

Although  the  British  Province  was  represented  at  the  synod 
of  1764  by  seven  of  its  leading  men,  the  congregations  them- 
selves are  now  somewhat  inclined  to  demur  at  those  of  its  reso- 
lutions which  implied  an  individual  responsibility  for  the  general 
indebtedness  of  the  Unity.  And  the  requirements  of  English 
law  must  be  met  in  connection  with  the  titles  to  church  prop- 
erty. Hence  a  provincial  synod  and  two  provincial  conferences 
of  the  ministers  without  lay  delegates  are  convoked  in  this 
period ;  visitations  are  made  by  John  de  Watteville,  by  Peter 
Bohler,  and  by  David  Nitschmann,  the  Syndic.  Benjamin  La 
Trobe,  in  London,  meantime  exercises  an  oversight  over  the 
provincial  finances.  Moreover,  for  a  period  of  three  months 
the  Directorium  transfers  its  seat  to  Lindsey  House,  to  aid  in 
the  solution  of  the  problems  involved — as  well  as  to  advise  with 
the  resuscitated  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  con- 
cerning a  new  attempt  at  missions  in  Labrador. 


214 


A  HISTORY  OF 


In  Wales  the  society  for  some  time  affiliated  with  the  Breth- 
ren in  Haverfordwest  was  now  elevated  into  a  congregation, 
its  ministers  maintaining  a  large  number  of  preaching-places. 
Here  Bishop  Gambold  spent  his  years  of  retirement  from  1768 
until  his  death  in  1771,  undertaking  an  extensive  tour  through- 
out the  principahty,  and  drawing  audiences  so  numerous  that 
often  the  meetings  had  to  be  held  in  the  open  air.  Himself  a 
Welshman,  born  at  Puncheston  in  171 1,  and  having  taught 
school  at  Haverfordwest  from  1722  to  1724,  after  surrendering 
his  living  at  Stanton-Harcourt,  when  he  left  the  Anglican 
Church  for  conscience  sake,  it  was  natural  that  he  rejoiced  in 
thus  using  his  sonorous  mother-tongue  for  the  promotion  of 
the  gospel.  But  it  was  only  for  a  brief  period.  His  native 
climate  had  been  recommended  as  a  possible  means  of  relief 
from  a  dropsical  malady.  This  carried  him  off  in  the  sixty-first 
year  of  his  age — a  saintly  man  of  God  whose  gentle  piety  en- 
deared him  to  his  Brethren,  even  as  his  learning  was  valuable 
to  their  cause.  One  of  his  recent  services  had  been  the  editing 
of  a  hymnal  to  take  the  place  of  the  collection  issued  in  1754. 

In  Ireland,  Gracehill  rejoiced  in  the  consecration  of  its  place 
of  worship  in  1765 ;  and  the  transfer  from  Gloonen  was  com- 
pleted, Anthony  SeifTerth  being  pastor.  The  activity  at  Lisna- 
marra,  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  acquiring  title  to  land,  was 
in  time  similarly  transferred  to  the  vicinity  of  Ballymaguigan, 
where  more  than  a  hundred  acres  of  land  were  obtained  on 
perpetual  lease,  and  the  settlement  of  Gracefield  rejoiced  in  the 
consecration  of  its  church  in  1769.  At  Cootehill  a  congregation 
was  recognized  as  a  unit  in  the  Brethren's  household  of  faith 
in  1765,  Bishops  Gambold  and  De  Watteville  and  Benjamin  La 
Trobe  lending  inipressiveness  to  the  occasion  by  their  joint 
presence. 

But  the  course  of  events  in  these  Irish  congregations  was  not 
always  smooth.  The  people  had  to  contend  with  the  evils  of 
poverty,  and  malicious  neighbors  frequently  exposed  them  to 
severe  trials.  During  the  months  of  October  and  November, 
1768,  for  instance,  the  congregation  at  Ballinderry  suffered  con- 
siderably. The  hurling  of  stones  by  a  hostile  mob  into  the 
houses  of  members,  the  breaking  in  of  doors  and  the  firing  of 
bullets  through  the  windows,  even  in  hours  of  worship,  testified 
to  the  intensity  of  bigoted  ignorance. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


215 


The  year  1765  was  noteworthy  for  the  beginning  of  work  in 
Scotland.  Ever  since  1743  the  Brethren  had  enjoyed  the  esteem 
of  gentlemen  of  prominence  in  that  country,  who  had  solicited 
their  services,  and  a  few  years  later  an  offer  of  land  for  a  settle- 
ment had  been  made  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle.  Unfortunately 
circumstances  had  prevented  its  acceptance.  Now,  however,  a 
commencement  was  made  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  in  response 
to  requests  presented  to  the  general  synod  by  members  of  the 
church,  who  had  removed  to  North  Britain  from  the  sister  isle. 
The  evangelist  dispatched  was  John  Caldwell,  of  Presbyterian 
extraction,  whose  conversion  had  been  brought  about  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Cennick  in  1755,  when  in  his  twenty- 
second  year.  Since  then  extensive  itineracies  had  developed 
his  natural  gifts  for  public  speech.  Crossing  to  Portpatrick, 
he  proceeded  on  foot  to  the  town  of  Ayr,  where  he  commenced 
daily  services  in  his  lodging.  The  room  proving  far  too  small, 
his  friends  fitted  up  a  large  malt-kiln  as  a  place  of  worship ;  but 
the  very  first  time  it  was  used  it  also  proved  inadequate,  and  he 
was  forced  to  take  to  open-air  preaching.  Invited  to  other 
places,  he  soon  had  preached  in  twenty-seven  towns,  and  had 
thousands  of  people  amongst  his  hearers.  This  state  of  things 
could  not  last  very  long;  but  in  the  town  of  Ayr  a  permanent 
society  was  formed  and  a  chapel  built,  in  1768.  Later  another 
was  built  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Irvine,  and  ministers  of 
the  Brethren's  Church  went  on  evangeHstic  tours  to  Glasgow, 
Dumfries,  Edinburg,  and  other  cities,  preaching  in  chapels,  pri- 
vate houses,  or  in  the  fields,  as  opportunity  offered. 


3l6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE  ADOPTION  OF  A  PERMANENT  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  FORMU- 
LATION OF  THE  DOCTRINAL  POSITION  OF  THE  CHURCH 
AT  THE  SYNODS  OF  MARIENBORN  AND 
BARBY,  1769  AND  1775- 

One  hundred  and  eighteen  persons  met  in  the  castle  of 
Marienborn  to  constitute  the  eighteenth  general  synod.  Pre- 
paratory gatherings  had  been  held  in  Silesia,  Saxony  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  contributed  to  the  recognition  of  the  representa- 
tive principle,  whilst  they  added  weight  to  the  authority  of  the 
legislation  of  the  present  assembly.  Bishop  John  de  Watteville 
opened  its  sessions.  Bishop  Spangenberg  was  chosen  presi- 
dent, and  the  election  was  confirmed  by  the  lot. 

The  reports  of  the  three  executive  boards  disclosed  certain 
ill-advised  features  in  the  existing  methods  of  administration. 
Furthermore,  the  general  financial  situation  gave  cause  for 
serious  apprehension. 

Early  in  the  proceedings  a  deep  impression  was  produced  by 
the  communication  of  a  farewell  letter  from  the  venerable  Fred- 
erick de  Watteville,  who  was  lying  ill  at  Herrnhut  expecting  his 
end.  He  drew  attention  to  the  misuses  which  he  regarded  as 
blameworthy  in  connection  with  the  indifferent  appreciation 
both  of  the  Holy  Communion  and  of  the  rite  of  Foot-washing, 
disregard  of  the  Hourly  Intercession,  the  falling  into  abeyance 
of  the  former  office  of  exhorter  or  reprover,  the  predominance 
of  the  mechanical  over  the  spiritual  in  the  liturgical  services  of 
the  church,  the  faulty  appreciation  and  misuse  of  the  lot,  the 
effeminate  training  received  by  the  children,  and  the  haste  which 
marked  the  transaction  of  business  at  conferences  and  synods, 
instead  of  a  patient  waiting  until  the  mind  of  the  Lord  should 
be  made  clear. 

Spangenberg  insisted  that  it  was  first  of  all  necessary  to  con- 
sider, as  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  what  was  hindering  His 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


217 


blessing  from  resting  upon  the  church;  this  was  ere  long 
acknowledged  to  be  mutual  mistrust.  Much  plain  speaking 
followed,  and  mutual  confessions  were  induced.  Resolution  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  church  was  the  outcome. 

After  business  of  importance  in  connection  with  the  missions 
had  been  dispatched,  and  provision  made  for  sending  reenforce- 
ments  to  Egypt  and  to  the  Guinea  Coast,  earnest  and  prolonged 
attention  was  given  to  the  formulation  of  rules  to  regulate  the 
use  of  the  lot.  Its  origin  was  traced  to  Zinzendorf's  custom 
already  in  his  youth,  and  to  its  employment  at  Herrnhut  in 
order  to  fill  various  offices  in  the  congregation  during  the 
formative  years  1727  and  1728,  with  the  purpose  of  ascertain- 
ing and  following  the  Saviour's  will  rather  than  relying  upon 
the  wise  counsel  of  any  man.  Its  Scriptural  warrant  was  de- 
clared to  be  found  in  Acts  i  -.26.  Its  special  utility  lay  in  a 
recognition  of  human  inefficiency  and  in  the  unanimity  of  con- 
viction arrived  at  through  attaining  certainty  as  to  providential 
leading.  That  the  Lord  must  rule  His  church  through  this 
means  was  not  claimed,  but  only  that  He  does  thus  manifest 
His  will.  When  resorted  to,  the  manner  of  employing  the 
lot,  i.  e.,  with  two  ballots,  a  positive  and  a  negative,  or  with 
three,  a  positive,  a  negative,  and  a  blank,  had  difitered  from 
time  to  time.  Definite  rules  were  now  adopted.  Spangenberg, 
indeed,  at  a  later  session,  when  the  revision  of  the  minutes  was 
in  hand,  declared  that  for  his  part  he  questioned  whether  re- 
course to  the  lot  were  not  better  abrogated,  since  it  seemed  to 
remain  an  apple  of  contention,  because  they  were  not  yet  all 
clear  upon  what  its  certainty  rested.  "This,"  he  said,  "did  not 
depend  upon  the  method  employed,  but  upon  the  faithful  heart 
of  Jesus." 

By  a  natural  step  methods  of  practical  edification  were  next 
considered.  Systematic  reading  of  the  entire  New  Testament 
and  of  selected  portions  of  the  Old  at  the  public  services,  was 
carefully  planned.  Weekly  catechetical  instruction  was  recom- 
mended. Provision  was  made  for  the  revision  of  the  Liturgy. 
Spangenberg  was  encouraged  to  continue  his  preparation  of  a 
life  of  Zinzendorf.  It  was  determined  that  certain  of  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Count  should  be  suffered  to  go  out  of  print — a  reac- 
tion towards  more  exact  churchUness. 

In  connection  with  aflPairs  of  constitution  and  finance,  Kober 
proved  the  leading  spirit.    The  hard  force  of  circumstances,  he 


2l8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


urged,  rather  than  Zinzendorfian  views  and  methods  must  dic- 
tate the  poHcy.  Briefly  summarized,  the  transactions  assumed 
the  following  form :  Out  of  the  three  separate  boards  which 
had  previously  exercised  joint  and  sometimes  conflicting  over- 
sight according  to  the  proposal  of  John  Frederick  Reichel  a 
new  executive  board,  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  was 
formed  with  three  departments,  distinct  and  yet  related.  Its 
membership  was  as  follows :  the  Aufseher  Collegium,  Abraham 
von  Gersdorf,  Kober  and  Count  Henry  28th  Reuss ;  the  Hclfer 
Collegium,  Spangenberg,  John  de  Watte ville.  Christian  Gregor 
and  John  Frederick  Reichel ;  the  Diener  Collegium,  Loretz,  Lay- 
ritz,  Frederick  Wenceslaus  Neisser,  John  Christian  Quandt, 
Bohler  and  Van  Laer.  Its  seat  until  1771  was  at  Hennersdorf, 
then  at  Barby. 

The  principle  was  laid  down  that  the  members  of  the  church 
were  morally  bound  to  personally  and  individually  stand  for  the 
debt — a  declaration  which  afterwards  aroused  great  opposition, 
as  involving  the  exercise  of  an  unwarranted  right  over  the  prop- 
erty of  the  individual.  The  establishment  of  a  sinking  fund 
was  determined  upon.  Otherwise  the  financial  measures  mainly 
aimed  at  retrenchment.  If  a  minister  could  support  himself  in 
part  or  wholly  by  work  aside  of  his  ministerial  duties,  he  was 
expected  to  do  so.  The  church  schools,  wherever  practicable, 
were  to  be  changed  into  parochial  day  schools,  to  lessen  the 
cost.  The  study  of  law  and  of  medicine  should  cease  in  the  col- 
lege and  in  the  seminary.  Henceforth  the  resources  of  the 
Unity  should  not  be  invested  in  industries  prosecuted  in  the 
congregations.  These  were  to  be  acquired  by  the  local  organ- 
izations, or  better  yet  by  members  in  their  private  capacity. 
Each  congregation  must  make  provision  for  its  own  necessary 
expenses,  including  the  salaries  of  ministers  in  its  service.  The 
governing  board  of  the  Unity  was  to  exercise  rather  an  advisory 
than  a  mandatory  power  over  the  congregations  in  local  affairs, 
and  the  church  council,  consisting  of  all  adult  male  communi- 
cants, came  into  greater  prominence.  Nevertheless,  whilst  the 
united  theocratic  republic  thus  assumed  some  of  the  features 
of  a  more  loosely  compacted  federation,  the  influence  of  coun- 
terbalancing centralization  was  felt  in  the  constitution  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  and  in  its  relationship  to  the  execu- 
tives of  the  divisions  of  the  church  in  Britain  and  America. 
These  became  only  "Helpers"  of  the  governing  board,  ap- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


219 


pointed  by  it  and  responsible  to  it  and  not  to  the  churches  over 
which  they  exercised  supervision.  The  current  business  of  the 
missions  and  of  the  management  of  the  schools  continued  to  be 
transacted  by  a  Mission  Committee  of  three  at  Herrnhut  and 
by  six  Trustees  of  the  schools  at  Barby,  Niesky  and  Herrnhut. 

Six  years  later,  at  the  general  synod  of  Barby,  this  legislation 
was  supplemented,  and  the  tendency  to  centralization  was  in- 
tensified. The  minister  of  a  congregation  was  declared  the 
agent  and  representative  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference, 
rather  than  the  executive  of  the  local  organization.  Member- 
ship in  the  church  council  was  restricted  to  a  portion  of  the 
communicants,  to  whom  alone  should  pertain  the  right  to  elect 
the  elders  and  trustees.  A  bishop  should  not  ex-officio  be 
clothed  with  executive  power,  but  was  rather  to  be  regarded 
as  "an  elder  appointed  by  the  synod  to  ordain  ministers  of  the 
church."  Selection  of  candidates  for  ordination  was  declared 
to  be  a  function  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  which  body 
should  also  possess  the  prerogative  of  selecting  men  for  epis- 
copal consecration  in  cases  of  necessity  and  with  the  approval 
of  the  lot.  In  respect  to  finances  the  accounts  of  the  separate 
congregations  and  "choirs"  were  placed  in  closer  connection 
with  the  governing  board.  It  was  held  that  the  latter  could 
require  the  wealthier  organizations  to  assist  the  poorer,  and 
that  any  surplus  accruing  to  an  individual  organization  which 
was  not  really  needed  for  its  own  afifairs  should  be  regarded  as 
the  property  of  the  whole  church.  All  local  financial  officials 
were  made  responsible  to  the  governing  board,  under  obliga- 
tion to  transmit  yearly  reports  of  their  transactions. 

A  direct  effect  of  this  legislation  was  that  in  all  three  divisions 
of  the  church  extension  at  home  received  less  attention.  Ag- 
gressive energies  were  reserved  for  the  field  of  foreign  missions. 
Apart  from  the  leavening  influence  of  the  Diaspora  and  the 
widely  extended  educational  undertakings  through  which  thou- 
sands received  religious  impressions  that  bore  choice  fruit  in 
other  churches  and  in  which  some  of  the  future  leaders  of  re- 
ligious thought  in  Europe  received  their  dominant  impulses, 
one  purpose  became  increasingly  characteristic,  viz.,  the  effort 
to  cultivate  the  unalloyed  simplicity  of  unfeigned  Christian  dis- 
cipleship  in  the  quiet  and  sanctified  retreats  of  the  "settle- 
ments," where  religion  was  the  all-absorbing  topic  and  the  chief 
factor  in  life.    A  Moravian  "settlement"  normally  consisted  of 


220 


A  HISTORY  OF 


a  village  all  of  whose  inhabitants  were  adherents  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church,  permanent  residence  or  the  acquirement  of  prop- 
erty therein  by  others  not  being  permitted.  Its  spiritual  affairs 
were  superintended  by  an  elders'  conference  of  which  the  min- 
ister {Gemeinhelfer)  was  chairman,  and  of  which  all  the  other 
ordained  servants  of  the  church  resident  in  the  place  and  the 
women  who  had  the  oversight  of  their  sex,  were  members.  The 
communal  government  was  vested  in  a  warden  with  whom  were 
associated  the  members  of  the  Aufscher  Collegium,  a  committee 
elected  by  the  church  council.  Matters  of  primary  importance 
were  referred  to  the  decision  of  the  church  council,  a  larger 
body  of  male  communicants.  The  inn,  a  general  store,  a  mill, 
a  smithy,  a  tannery  and  possibly  other  industries  were  managed 
for  the  "settlement"  as  part  of  the  property  of  the  church. 
Establishments  known  respectively  as  the  widows',  brethren's, 
and  sisters'  houses,  where  members  of  these  "choirs"  prose- 
cuted trades  for  the  benefit  of  the  establishment,  and  in  return 
received  a  home  and  the  necessaries  of  life,  were  each  superin- 
tended by  a  chaplain  or  Pfleger  in  spiritual  and  a  warden  or 
Vorsteher  in  secular  aflfairs.  Daily  services  were  held  in  the 
chapels  of  these  houses,  and  each  evening  of  the  week  as  well 
as  on  the  Lord's  Day  the  entire  population  of  the  "settlement" 
met  for  worship  in  the  church,  the  liturgical  forms  and  usages 
being  characterized  by  a  rich  variety  and  pleasing  simplicity. 
That  many  a  soul  thus  found  calm  solace  and  happy  vital  assur- 
ance amid  the  deadening  influences  of  a  steadily  encroaching 
Rationalism  is  made  plain  by  abundant  testimony. 

The  truly  catholic  breadth  of  Hberality  in  non-essentials,  the 
while  adherence  to  fundamentals  was  required,  which  enabled 
men  and  women  of  very  different  temperament  thus  intimately 
to  associate  and  labor  together  to  mutually  promote  culture  of 
Christian  character,  was  further  secured  by  the  deliberations  of 
the  synod  of  1775.  Consistent  refusal  to  arbitrarily  bind  the 
conscience  of  all  members  by  the  formulation  of  a  detailed  creed 
remained  fundamental.  But  the  following  essentials,  to  be 
understood  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  were  postuated : 

1.  The  doctrine  of  the  universal  depravity  of  man;  that  there 
is  no  health  in  man,  and  that  since  the  Fall  he  has  no  power  to 
save  himself. 

2.  The  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ ;  that  God,  the  Crea- 
tor of  all  things,  was  manifest  in  the  flesh  and  reconciled  us  to 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


221 


Himself ;  that  He  is  before  all  things  and  that  by  Him  all  things 
consist. 

3.  The  doctrine  of  the  atonement  and  satisfaction  made  for 
us  by  Jesus  Christ ;  that  he  was  delivered  for  our  offences  and 
raised  again  for  our  justification,  and  that  by  His  merits  alone 
we  receive  freely  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  sanctification  in 
soul  and  body. 

4.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  operations  of  his 
grace ;  that  it  is  He  who  worketh  in  us  conviction  of  sin,  faith 
in  Jesus  and  pureness  of  heart. 

5.  The  doctrine  of  the  fruits  of  faith ;  that  faith  must  evidence 
itself  by  willing  obedience  to  the  commandments  of  God,  from 
love  and  gratitude  to  Him. 

It  was  further  recognized  as  of  the  utmost  importance  with 
respect  to  doctrine  and  practice,  that  the  person  of  Jesus,  as 
God  and  Man,  should  be  placed  in  the  center,  His  vicarious  re- 
demption being  the  characteristic  and  dominant  tenet  of  the 
Brethren's  theology.  The  idea  of  personal  communion  with 
the  Saviour  was  to  be  the  key-note  in  the  teaching  of  the  church 
and  should  sound  through  all  non-essential  differences  of  re- 
ligious views. 


222 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  MISSION  IN  LABRADOR,  I764-I776. 

Undeterred  by  the  disastrous  ending  of  Erhardt's  endeavor, 
the  Brethren  did  not  abandon  Labrador.  In  1764  Jens  Haven, 
a  Dane  who  had  served  at  Lichtenfels  in  Greenland  long  enough 
to  acquire  the  Eskimo,  through  the  favor  of  Sir  Hugh  Palliser, 
Governor  of  Newfoundland,  secured  passage  via  St.  Johns, 
and  by  his  employment  of  their  famihar  dress  and  speech  dis- 
armed the  hostile  suspicions  of  the  natives  of  Labrador,  so  as 
to  prepare  the  way  for  a  permanent  mission.  In  the  following 
year,  accompanied  by  Drachart,  he  made  a  more  extensive 
reconnaissance,  penetrating  a  considerable  distance  into  the 
interior.    But  at  this  juncture  affairs  of  state  called  a  halt. 

As  a  special  agency  for  the  prosecution  of  missions  in  Labra- 
dor the  church  looked  to  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the 
Gospel,  established  in  London  by  Spangenberg  in  1741,  though 
now  in  a  somewhat  dormant  state.  On  March  10,  1766,  a  re- 
vision of  its  statutes  took  place,  the  officers  being  James  Hut- 
ton,  Chairman,  Thomas  Knight,  Treasurer,  and  WiUiam  Oxley, 
Secretary.  The  revived  society  then  undertook  the  publica- 
tion of  a  translation  of  Cranz's  History  of  Greenland,  that  in- 
terest might  be  awakened  and  prejudices  removed. 

In  the  autumn  of  1767  turmoil  in  Labrador  itself  hastened 
the  founding  of  the  mission.  Sundry  Eskimos  made  a  raid 
on  the  few  settlements  along  the  southern  coast.  During  their 
attempt  to  steal  boats  in  the  vicinity  of  a  fort  in  Charles  Bay 
several  natives  were  killed  and  three  women  and  six  children 
taken  prisoners.  Some  of  these  prisoners  were  detained  in 
Newfoundland ;  but  Palliser  brought  to  England  one  of  the 
women  and  two  boys,  one  of  them  a  bright  lad  named  Karpik, 
twelve  years  old.  Brief  as  had  been  the  intercourse  of  Haven 
and  Drachart  with  the  people  of  the  coast,  it  was  remarked  that 
the  woman  recited  a  prayer  which  Drachart  had  taught.  Kar- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


223 


pik  was  therefore  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  Society  for  the 
Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  and  was  placed  in  Fulneck  School. 
He  made  a  creditable  progress  in  primary  branches  and  mani- 
fested a  receptive  religious  mind.  But  next  year  he  died  from 
small-pox,  having  been  prepared  for  his  end  by  baptism  at  his 
own  request.  Mikak,  his  mother,  had  meantime  become  an 
object  of  curious  and  compassionate  interest  to  a  number  of 
persons  of  rank,  and  joined  her  solicitations  to  those  of  the 
Brethren  for  the  requisite  legal  sanction  of  a  missionary  and 
trading  enterprise.  At  last,  on  May  3,  1769,  an  order  of  Privy 
Council  with  royal  approval  sanctioned  the  undertaking,  and 
granted  to  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  one 
hundred  thousand  acres  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  as  might  be 
selected.  It  was  the  desire  of  the  church  to  estabHsh  four  sta- 
tions and  to  acquire  a  tract  of  equal  dimensions  at  each  place  in 
order  to  insure  unhampered  operations. 

Sanction  of  government  having  been  obtained,  in  this  same 
year  it  was  determined  to  purchase  a  ship  for  Labrador  service, 
at  a  cost  of  one  thousand  pounds,  to  be  divided  into  one  hun- 
dred shares  of  ten  pounds  each.  Twenty-three  Brethren,  the 
majority  being  members  of  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of 
the  Gospel,  took  shares.  These  Brethren  were  to  be  the  proprie- 
tors of  the  ship,  and  were  to  elect  a  committee  to  act  for  them. 
Profit  from  this  ship  over  and  above  five  per  cent,  clear  to  the 
proprietors  should  be  paid  into  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance 
of  the  Gospel.  All  business  connected  with  the  ship  was  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  "Ship  Committee."  The  Society  for  the 
Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  was  to  pay  the  "Ship  Committee"  for 
the  passage  of  missionaries  and  the  freight  of  their  goods.  All 
trading  v/as  to  be  done  by  a  member  of  the  Church  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  "Ship  Committee."  It  was  to  be  quite  independent 
of  the  mission  proper. 

In  March,  1770,  a  small  brig,  the  Jersey  Packet,  was  purchased. 
On  May  2  a  lovefeast  in  Fetter  Lane  Chapel  constituted  the 
farewell  of  the  church  to  the  pioneers  of  the  gospel  in  Labrador. 
With  the  members  of  the  missionary  society  were  present  the 
missionaries  proper,  Drachart,  Haven  and  Stephen  Jensen; 
John  Thorton,  from  Fulneck,  apointed  trader  with  the  natives ; 
John  Glew,  from  Haverfordwest,  mate  of  the  vessel ;  Theobald 
Freeh,  Daniel  Peters  and  Wynstrauch,  from  Zeist,  carpenters 
and  sailors ;  and  Alexander  Campbell  and  Robert  Gilroy  of 


224 


A  HISTORY  OF 


London,  landsmen,  and  the  wives  of  three  of  the  party.  Six 
additional  sailors  and  the  captain,  Francis  Mugford,  not  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  completed  the  number  of  those  about  to 
sail.  On  Saturday  morning.  May  5,  anchor  was  weighed  and 
the  ship  dropped  down  the  Thames  for  the  adventurous  voy- 
age to  the  chartless  coast  of  Labrador.  Her  instructions  in- 
cluded provision  for  morning  and  evening  prayers  in  the  cabin 
and  services  for  all  on  board  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

The  voyage  was  tedious  and  in  its  latter  part  hazardou.s. 
Storms  drove  the  brig  to  seek  shelter  in  bays  whose  rocks  and 
shallows  were  unknown  and  at  whose  entrance  bergs  and  floes 
offered  a  threatening  barricade.  At  length  on  August  10  a 
landing  was  effected.  The  natives  were  disposed  to  welcome 
the  strangers.  Mikak's  return  resplendent  in  the  glory  of 
European  finery  made  a  profound  impression.  The  spot  was 
about  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  north  of  Ehrardt's  Hope- 
dale  of  1752.  Friendly  intercourse  was  soon  estabhshed,  and 
the  new  settlement  was  called  Nain. 

That  the  authorities  at  home  might  keep  in  touch  with  Labra- 
dor and  that  a  comprehensive  policy  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
mission  in  the  immediate  future  might  be  wisely  adopted,  in 
1773  Layritz  was  commissioned  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence to  pay  an  official  visit.  Proceeding  by  way  of  Newfound- 
land, his  reception  by  the  natives  confirmed  the  reports  of  their 
friendliness  and  impressibility.  He  spent  the  short  summer  at 
the  mission,  and  on  his  return  to  Barby  the  establishment  of  two 
additional  stations,  to  the  north  and  to  the  south,  was  sanc- 
tioned. The  tour  of  exploration  northwards,  in  1774,  cost  the 
lives  of  two  missionaries.  During  the  return  voyage,  after  they 
had  already  experienced  many  thrilling  escapes  and  had  endured 
many  hardships,  their  vessel  ran  on  a  reef  in  the  night  and  began 
to  go  to  pieces.  At  dawn  they  took  to  the  boat.  This  too 
was  dashed  on  the  rocks.  Brasen  and  Lehmann  were  drowned. 
Haven  and  Lister  and  the  sailors  barely  saved  themselves  by 
swimming  to  spray-swept  ledge,  whence  they  escaped  only  on 
the  fourth  day  after  patching  up  their  boat.  With  a  favoring 
wind  they  were  at  last  towed  to  Nain  by  a  native  in  his  kayak. 
When  the  foaming  sea  gave  up  the  poor  bodies  of  Brasen  and 
Lehmann,  they  were  laid  to  rest  side  by  side  at  Nain. 

In  the  summer  of  1775  Haven  and  Jensen  as  a  fruit  of  this 
exploration  occupied  Okak,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


225 


north  of  Nain,  purchasing  land  from  the  Eskimos.  Here  the 
coast  is  grandly  rugged,  abounding  in  precipitous  fjords.  Okak 
itself — "The  Tongue" — is  situated  on  a  hilly  island,  which  for 
nearly  half  the  year  is  practically  part  of  the  mainland,  for  the 
broad  straits  are  bridged  by  thick  ice.  Though  the  landscape 
is  barren  of  verdure,  noble  mountain  ranges  stretch  away  to  the 
north.  Not  far  off  rises  the  bold  island  of  Cape  Mugford,  its 
seaward  face  "a  perpendicular  precipice  of  about  two  thou- 
sand feet,  with  white  base  and  a  middle  strata  of  black  blocks 
surmounted  by  castellated  cliffs." 

Both  at  Nain  and  at  Okak  the  progress  'of  the  work  though 
requiring  patience  encouraged  the  missionaries.  The  natives' 
habit  of  scattering  on  the  approach  of  winter  gave  the  usages 
of  ancient  heathenism  opportunity  to  reassert  themselves  at  a 
distance  from  the  stations.  But  when  the  notorious  angekck 
Kingminguse  received  baptism  at  Nain  on  February  17,  1776, 
choosing  for  himself  the  name  of  Peter,  hope  began  to  burn 
brightly.  Amongst  the  early  converts  was  also  Mikak.  Re- 
moving to  the  south  soon  after  her  baptism,  she  seemed  to  re- 
lapse into  heathenism,  her  husband,  Tuglavina,  being  an  angc- 
kok,  a  shrewd  leader  of  his  people  in  violence,  and  a  man  of  un- 
common physical  frame  and  hardihood.  On  one  occasion 
"when  Tuglavina,  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  Eskimos,  returned 
the  first  time  from  Chateau  Bay,  having  furnished  himself  with 
a  sloop  of  two  masts,  European  arms,  and  many  other  ac- 
coutrements, he  stepped  tmexpectedly  into  the  Mission-house 
and  into  Brother  Haven's  room,  dressed  in  an  old  officer's  uni- 
form, with  a  bob-wig  and  a  huge  laced  hat,  a  sword  at  his  side, 
and  altogether  in  the  habit  of  a  European  officer,  uttering  sev- 
eral threats  and  boasting  of  his  valiant  deeds  in  the  south, 
Brother  Haven,  looking  sternly  at  him,  exclaimed,  'What,  are 
you  Tuglavina?  Depart  this  minute.  I  have  nothing  to  say 
to  you  in  this  dress.  Put  on  your  old  Eskimo  furs  and  then 
return.  Behave  like  a  sober  Eskimo,  and  I'll  answer  your 
speech.'  Tuglavina  instantly  left  the  room,  as  if  thunder- 
struck ;  and  without  reflecting  on  the  degrading  appearance  he 
must  make  before  his  own  countrymen  in  putting  off  his  boasted 
ornaments,  returned  to  the  missionaries,  dressed  in  the  plain 
Eskimo  fashion.  They  then  very  seriously  reproved  him  for  the 
wicked  practices  and  the  murders  of  which  he  had  been  guilty, 
and  for  inveighng  so  many  of  the  baptized  to  follow  him  to 
16 


226 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  south,  where  he  had  seduced  them  into  all  manner  of 
heathenish  abominations.  During  this  address  Tuglavina  grew 
pale,  trembled  exceedingly,  confessed  himself  an  abominable 
sinner;  but  said  that  he  must  sin,  for  the  devil  forced  him  to  it 
and  he  could  not  help  himself.  This  gave  the  missionary  a 
desirable  opportunity  of  preaching  to  him  Jesus  as  an  Almighty 
Saviour.  Such  opportunities  became  more  frequent  in  the  fol- 
lowing years ;  and  he  often  shed  tears  when  confessing  his 
wicked  deeds,  which  contrary  to  the  general  practice  of  the 
Eskimos,  he  never  denied.  In  the  sequel  he  became  more  at- 
tentive to  the  gospel,"  eventually  submitted  to  its  power,  and 
died  in  the  faith. 

By  the  year  1781  at  Okak  alone  there  were  thirty-eight  bap- 
tized Eskimos  and  ten  catechumens. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


227 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE  CHURCH  ON  THE  CONTINENT,  FROM  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE 
CONSTITUTION   TO   THE   OUTBREAK   OF  THE 
FRENCH  REVOLUTION,  1769-1792. 

Upon  the  newly  created  executive  devolved  the  difficult  task 
of  carrying  into  effect  those  resolutions  of  the  recent  synod 
which  proposed  to  rehabilitate  the  finances  by  retrenchment  of 
expenditure  and  increase  of  capital.  It  was  no  Hght  duty,  since 
sectional  feeling  and  an  exaltation  of  local  interests  were  man- 
ifested in  Germany,  whilst  in  England  complaint  was  made  that 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Unity  was  being  neglected  for  the  sake 
of  improving  the  financial  situation.  Contributions  for  the 
general  cause  came  in  very  slowly. 

Various  plans  were  proposed.  In  imitation  of  Wesley's 
method,  by  which  the  class  leaders  collected  weekly  subscrip- 
tions from  the  members,  a  Brother  Skinner,  of  London,  sug- 
gested the  gathering  of  weekly  contributions  throughout  the 
entire  church  to  meet  the  interest  and  pay  off  the  debt  in  ten 
years ;  but  this  seemed  insufficient  in  the  magnitude  of  the 
present  emergency.  At  length  it  was  determined  that  the  debt 
be  divided  amongst  the  various  congregations.  In  Germany 
and  especially  in  Herrnhut  the  scheme  was  received  with  dis- 
satisfaction, though  Spangenberg  labored  unintermittently  with 
pen  and  voice,  in  public  and  in  private,  to  promote  larger  disin- 
terestedness. Then  Cornelius  van  Laer  in  the  name  of  the 
Zeist  congregation  proposed  that  instead  of  dividing  the  capital 
amount  of  the  indebtedness  between  the  congregations,  each 
local  organization  should  annually  obligate  itself  for  a  share  of 
the  interest.  But  the  unwillingness  to  assume  anything  like 
fixed  obligations  remained,  despite  the  fact  that  Layritz,  Bohler 
and  Count  Reuss  labored  with  the  local  boards.  So  urgent  be- 
came the  perplexity  that  Spangenberg  and  Reichel  were  next 
appointed  to  interview  every  member  of  the  Herrnhut  congre- 


228 


A  HISTORY  OF 


gation,  and  thus  if  possible  break  the  front  of  opposition,  re- 
kindle enthusiasm  for  the  cause  and  remove  the  religious  indif- 
ference of  which  illiberality  was  a  fruit.  But  not  even  this  ex- 
treme measure  at  once  afforded  help.  Then  came  the  astound- 
ing and  disheartening  news  of  a  heav)'  loss  through  a  defalca- 
tion in  Neuwied.  The  warden  and  another  brother  had  gone 
into  lottery  speculations  with  money  belonging  to  the  church, 
and  had  thus  used  60,000  florins.  The  members  at  Neuwied 
keenly  felt  the  consequent  disgrace,  and  were  resolved  to  re- 
trieve everything  by  their  united  efforts,  working  in  extra  hours 
until  the  money  had  been  restored. 

It  was  under  these  disheartening  circumstances  that  the 
jubilee  of  the  founding  of  Herrnhut  was  celebrated.  The  Lord 
overruled  this  occasion  for  good.  A  better  spirit  was  to  obtain 
the  upper  hand,  through  the  loyalty  of  the  unmarried  women. 
On  September  2  twenty  of  their  number  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  church.  In  this  they  recognized  the  debt  to  be  their  debt, 
so  long  as  it  was  not  divided  amongst  the  congregations,  and 
pledged  themselves  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  pay  it,  poor 
though  the  most  of  them  were  and  dependent  upon  their  own 
labor  for  support.  They  said :  "After  weighing  how  we  might 
be  able  in  proportion  to  our  slender  means  to  contribute  some- 
thing towards  lessening  the  debt  of  the  Unity,  i.  e.,  our  own 
debt,  we  agreed  cheerfully  to  sacrifice  and  dispose  of  all  un- 
necessary articles,  such  as  gold  and  silver  plate,  watches,  snuff- 
boxes, rings,  trinkets  and  jewelry  of  every  kind  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  a  sinking  fund,  on  condition  that  not  only 
the  church  at  Herrnhut,  but  all  the  members  of  the  church 
everywhere,  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  assent  to  this  pro- 
posal. This  agreement,  however,  is  not  binding  on  those  indi- 
viduals who  can  contribute  in  other  ways.  Therefore,  dearest 
brethren  and  sisters,  let  us  not  delay,  but  united  in  love,  as 
one  person,  let  us  take  the  work  in  hand  with  courage  and  faith, 
either  in  the  manner  proposed  now  or  in  any  other  which  may 
be  deemed  more  eligible,  and  let  us  not  be  the  last  to  show  love 
and  faithfulness  to  our  Lord  and  His  cause."  The  letter  pro- 
duced a  deep  and  wide  sensation.  The  people  of  Herrnhut 
entered  into  generous  rivalry  who  should  be  foremost  with 
willing  gifts,  and  in  less  than  a  year  their  contributions 
amounted  to  $17,000.  The  impulse  was  felt  also  in  the  other 
congregations  ;  so  that  by  September,  1775,  a  capital  of  $220,000 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


229 


had  been  raised.  Better  yet,  the  spirit  of  narrow  local  selfish- 
ness was  quenched. 

Nevertheless  it  was  often  a  test  of  faith  for  Kober,  and  for 
Quandt,  his  successor  in  office,  to  maintain  courage  at  times 
when  payments  had  to  be  made  and  no  money  seemed  to  be 
forthcoming.  On  one  occasion  a  note  for  1,500  thaler  had 
almost  matured.  Only  one  day  of  grace  was  left.  Quandt  re- 
tired with  a  very  anxious  heart.  Next  morning,  in  spite  of  him- 
self, there  would  come  into  his  head  the  lines  of  the  well-known 
hymn : 

"Thu'  auf  den  Mund  zum  Lobe  dein, 
Bereit  das  Herz  zur  Andacht  fein, 
Den  Glauben  mehr,  stark  den  Vertand, 
Dass  uns  dein  Nam'  werd  wohl  bekannt." 

He  went  to  the  post-ofifice,  and  found  there  a  letter  with  a 
draft  exactly  covering  the  amount  needed.  At  another  time, 
in  Barby,  he  was  utterlj'  heart-sick  over  a  payment  of  more 
than  100,000  thaler,  which  had  to  be  made  at  the  following  Eas- 
ter. He  had  studied  his  accounts  carefully  and  long,  and  made 
all  the  combinations  which  suggested  themselves  to  an  expert 
financier;  but  this  evening,  near  the  end  of  1772,  it  seemed  im- 
possible to  find  any  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  In  the  midst  of 
this  anxiety  the  night-watchman  was  heard  singing: 

"  Was  krankst  du  dich  in  deinem  Sinn 
Und  gramst  dich  Tag  und  Nacht  ? 
Nimm  deine  Noth  und  wirf  sie  hin 
Auf  dam  Der  dich  gemacht." 

He  writes,  "Heartily  ashamed  of  my  unbeHef,  I  instantly  put 
away  my  accounts,  and  retired  to  bed  full  of  hope.  And  lo ! 
very  soon  I  found  that  the  Lord  had  taken  my  great  trouble  on 
Himself.  For  I  received  intelligence  that  a  suit  which  had  been 
pending  for  ten  years  had  been  decided  in  favor  of  the  church, 
which  was  to  receive  145,000  florins  for  the  improvements  which 
it  had  made  on  the  domain  of  Marienborn." 

Additional  resources  were  derived  from  the  legacy  of  Abra- 
ham Diirninger,  who  at  his  death,  February  13,  1773,  devised 
his  extensive  establishment  jointly  to  the  local  congregation 
and  the  church  as  a  whole.  The  sale  of  Lindsey  House  and  of 
Heerendyk  in  1774  brought  in  needed  capital. 

During  these  years  steps  were  taken  to  found  a  congregation 
in  Denmark.    In  1771  the  government  invited  the  Brethren  to 


230  A  HISTORY  OF 

form  a  settlement  within  the  German  domains  of  his  majesty 
Christian  VII,  who  had  been  favorably  disposed  through  a  visit 
to  Zeist.  The  proposal  was  welcome  on  account  of  the  exten- 
sive Diaspora  associations  in  Schleswig  and  Holstein,  and  be- 
cause of  the  advantages  which  might  accrue  to  the  missions  in 
Danish  colonies.  PreHminarily,  however,  the  repeal  of  certain 
unfavorable  edicts  of  Christian  VI  was  requested,  with  the 
guarantee  of  all  religious  and  civil  rights.  The  king  readily 
assented,  promising  his  special  protection,  and  his  Minister, 
Count  Struensee,  gave  assurances  of  personal  satisfaction.  Next 
the  Brethren  appointed  John  Praetorius,  son  of  the  Minister  of 
Justice,  their  agent  in  Denmark.  An  unoccupied  royal  domain 
named  Tyrstruphof,  between  Hadersleben  and  Colding  in 
Schleswig,  was  therefore  purchased.  Building  operations  com- 
menced in  1773  and  the  place  received  the  name  of  Christians- 
feld.  Schools  for  both  sexes  were  estabHshed,  and  soon  pros- 
pered exceedingly. 

Meantime  movements  were  taking  place  which  threatened 
disaster  to  another  recent  settlement.  Under  Pugatcheff,  the 
pseudo  Peter  III,  a  rebellion  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  for  a 
time  put  an  end  to  law  and  order  in  the  region  around 
Astrakhan.  During  the  summer  of  1774  they  took  the  city  of 
Saratov.  A  Russian  army,  setting  forth  from  Zarizin,  was  cut  to 
pieces  at  Praleika.  The  news  of  this  defeat  reached  Sarepta 
on  August  17,  Old  Style.  The  commandant  at  Zarizin  sent 
word  that  he  could  in  no  way  guard  the  settlement,  and  urged 
all  its  people  to  flee  in  haste.  It  was  therefore  resolved  to 
send  all  the  women  and  children  with  a  number  of  the  married 
men  to  Astrakhan ;  and  the  same  evening  one  hundred  and  ten 
persons  commenced  the  journey  in  twelve  boats.  These  had 
been  secured  with  greatest  difficulty,  since  two  of  Pugatcheflf's 
Cossaks  had  appeared  at  the  Volga  and  warned  the  Russian 
fishermen  against  lending  any  assistance  to  the  people  of 
Sarepta.  Sixty-five  Brethren  remained  under  the  leadership 
of  Daniel  Pick,  the  warden,  to  pack  and  remove  as  many  of 
their  effects  as  possible.  Soon  the  Kalmucks  of  the  vicinity 
began  to  present  a  hostile  front,  and  to  cast  longing  eyes  upon 
the  cattle  of  the  settlement,  which  were  with  difficulty  saved 
from  them  and  driven  oflf.  Then  they  began  to  plunder  the 
sister  settlement  of  Schonbrunn  and  the  unoccupied  houses  of 
Sarepta  itself.    At  length  the  rebels  closed  in  on  Zarizin,  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


231 


from  Sarepta  the  smoke  of  its  suburbs  could  plainly  be  seen. 
On  the  evening  of  August  21  the  news  came  that  PugatchefT, 
having  burned  Zarizin,  was  on  his  way  to  Sarepta.  Meeting 
for  the  last  time  in  their  house  of  worship,  the  fugitives  thanked 
the  Lord  for  His  past  mercies,  and  commended  themselves  to 
His  care,  whilst  they  pledged  to  one  another  that  they  would 
not  separate  in  their  flight.  At  sunset  they  left  in  fourteen 
wagons.  Those  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  horses 
believed  that  they  might  easily  have  escaped,  had  they  not  de- 
termined to  remain  with  those  who  had  only  oxen,  and  share 
their  fate.  But  this  very  disinterestedness  proved  to  be  provi- 
dential. In  their  good  fortune  they  lost  their  way  in  the  dark- 
ness, and  so  avoided  a  company  of  fifty  Cossacks  whom 
Pugatcheflf  had  ordered  to  search  for  them  and  when  found  to 
put  them  to  the  sword.  On  August  29  they  reached  Janaitefka, 
where  they  remained  until  General  Michelson  defeated  and 
scattered  the  rebels.  Thereupon  four  Brethren  went  back  to 
Sarepta,  where  they  found  the  houses  standing,  but  stripped  to 
the  bare  walls,  and  in  many  cases  defiled  by  having  been  used 
as  stables.  The  rest  of  the  fugitives  returned  in  the  month  of 
September.  One  of  the  first  occurrences  after  the  reoccupa- 
tion  was  a  service  of  thanksgiving  for  the  unexpected  preserva- 
tion. When  the  news  of  this  trying  experience  reached  the 
other  congregations,  brotherly  sympathy  practically  demon- 
strated that  the  bonds  connecting  the  various  parts  of  the  Unity 
were  more  than  flimsy  sentiment.  Liberal  contributions  poured 
in  upon  Sarepta.  An  official  visit  from  Gregor  and  his  wife 
further  served  to  acquaint  the  churches  with  the  condition  of  its 
afifairs,  and  to  give  the  Brethren  at  the  outpost  assurance  of 
adequate  aid. 

Consolidation  of  existing  work,  rather  than  entrance  into 
new  fields,  now  became  the  order  of  the  day,  though  in  a  cer- 
tain quarter  hopes  were  at  one  time  entertained  of  a  distinct 
advance.  A  new  concession  received  from  Frederick  the  Great 
in  1 781  in  favor  of  the  Silesian  field  proved  of  particular  advan- 
tage for  the  upbuilding  of  Gnadenfeld,  and  suggested  the  idea 
that  from  this  point  the  Unity  might  be  of  service  in  the  home- 
land of  Moravia.  The  Edict  of  Toleration  published  by  Joseph 
n  of  Austria  in  the  same  year,  coupled  with  the  arrival  of  dele- 
gates from  the  Protestants  of  Zauchtenthal,  gave  rise  to  the 
hope  of  reviving  the  Unity  in  her  ancient  seats.    But  it  soon 


232 


A  HISTORY  OF 


appeared  that  the  Edict  allowed  of  an  interpretation  which 
robbed  it  of  value  for  those  who  wished  to  adhere  to  the  disci- 
pline of  Blahoslav  and  Comenius.  Persons  who  desired  to  en- 
joy the  privilege  of  worshiping  in  any  other  mode  than  that 
authorized  by  Rome  were  required  to  declare  formally  to  what 
church  they  adhered.  In  this  connection  the  Lutherans  and  the 
Reformed  were  recognized,  but  by  a  special  decree  Bohemian 
and  Moravian  Brethren  were  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the 
Edict.  Nothing,  therefore,  came  of  the  fact  that  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  persons  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  indicated 
their  preference  to  be  considered  adherents  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum. 

From  August  i  to  October  22,  1782,  the  twentieth  general 
synod  was  in  session  in  the  castle  at  Berthelsdorf.  Spangen- 
berg  presided.  Special  attention  was  paid  to  the  Diaspora  ac- 
tivity. The  financial  outlook  was  found  to  be  gradually  assum- 
ing a  more  encouraging  aspect.  A  number  of  communications 
were  presented  with  regard  to  the  curtailment  of  the  use  of  the 
lot,  desired  in  various  quarters.  Its  employment  in  reference 
to  questions  of  property  was  therefore  abrogated,  but  in  refer- 
ence to  the  marriage  of  members  no  change  was  made.  Synod 
formally  ordered  that  confirmation  be  insisted  upon  as  a  rite 
to  be  universally  observed  preparatory  to  the  first  enjoyment 
of  the  Holy  Communion.  Overagainst  the  spread  of  Ration- 
alism it  was  determined  to  adhere  the  more  faithfully  to  the 
language  of  Scripture. 

In  the  course  of  years  the  altered  attitude  of  the  theological 
world  towards  the  Brethren  was  becoming  apparent.  The 
Seminary  at  Barby  enjoyed  friendly  visits  from  professors  of 
Halle  and  Wittenberg;  and  an  active  correspondence  was  ex- 
changed with  Leipsic,  Wittenberg,  Halle,  Jena,  Tiibingen,  Gies- 
sen,  Gottingen,  Erlangen  and  Helmstadt.  The  former  tone  of 
controversy  had  given  place  to  one  of  esteem  and  approval  on 
the  part  of  conservative  theologians,  manifested  in  the  re- 
ception accorded  to  several  of  the  publications  now  issued  with 
official  sanction — notably  Spangenberg's  Idea  Fidei  Fratrum, 
Gregor's  Hymn-book  and  Lieberkiihn's  Catechism. 

Spangenberg's  work  was  intended  to  place  before  the  minis- 
ters and  members  of  the  church  a  scheme  of  Christian  doctrine 
expressed  in  biblical  language,  and  to  present  to  its  friends  a 
vindication  of  its  scriptural  catholicity.     Its  twenty-four  sec- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


tions  set  forth  the  essentials  of  sound  Protestant  theology  free 
from  one-sided  confessionaHsm.  The  love  of  God  in  Christ  is 
its  central  theme.  The  terminology  of  technical  theology  gives 
place  to  plain  bibHcal  language  that  makes  for  edification.  In 
the  exposition  of  the  sacraments  the  traditional  union-stand- 
point of  the  Moravian  Church  is  consistently  maintained.  The 
Idea  Fidei  appeared  in  1779,  and  at  once  won  favor  amongst 
clergy  and  laity  beyond  as  well  as  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Unity.  Struensee,  the  Danish  Minister  of  reHgion,  wrote  of  it : 
"Its  contents  correspond  with  my  conceptions.  I  have  showed 
it  to  various  pastors,  and  all  have  expressed  their  satisfaction 
with  it.  A  famous  philosopher  at  one  of  the  universities  in  a 
letter  complains  to  me  about  the  modern  theology  and  adds : 
T  even  now  prefer  to  read  Spangenberg's  Idea.  Of  a  certainty 
our  posterity  must  get  back  their  theology  from  the  Moravian 
Brethren.'  "  Meeting  with  a  rapid  sale,  the  work  won  friends 
for  the  Brethren  in  many  lands,  and  eflfectually  removed  from 
them  any  previously  existing  suspicions  of  heterodox  faith.  In 
the  course  of  time  it  was  translated  into  EngHsh,  Danish, 
French,  Swedish,  Dutch,  Bohemian  and  Polish. 

Of  its  companion  work,  Gregor's  Hymn-book,  Burkhardt  in 
his  Brudergemeine  says :  "Its  author,  who  had  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Unity  in  his  twentieth  year,  had  grasped  its  spirit 
with  clearness  and  warmth,  and  embodied  it  in  both  his  music 
and  his  hymns.  His  task  was  necessitated  by  the  character  of 
the  church's  life,  and  its  completion  supplied  a  pressing  want. 
The  Unity  had  possessed  its  own  hymn-book  since  1735.  The 
hymnal  of  that  year  had  given  expression  to  the  spirit  then 
animating  the  church.  Later  it  had  been  enlarged  by  a  number 
of  appendices,  each  of  which  in  its  day  reflected  the  changing 
characteristics  of  the  Unity.  The  excrescences  of  the  forties 
had  also  found  a  voice  in  these  appendices,  though  many  a 
hymn  of  permanent  worth  had  been  also  bound  up  with  them. 
The  cautious  sobriety  of  the  fifties  had  renounced  the  extrava- 
gant hymnology  and  prohibited  its  employment.  Zinzendorf 
while  in  London  had  undertaken  to  provide  a  new  hymnal 
chastened  in  tone,  which  had  appeared  there  in  1753  and  1754. 
But  its  bulk  rendered  it  a  historical  collection  of  sacred  songs, 
rather  than  a  practically  serviceable  hymn-book.  Moreover, 
the  process  of  correction  had  not  proceeded  with  sufficiently 
far-reaching  method.     Hence  for  use  in  public  devotions  a 


234 


A  HISTORY  OF 


compend  had  appeared  under  the  title  Gesang  des  Reigens  von 
Saron.  It  contained  only  hymns  of  Moravian  origin,  and  being 
in  its  turn  increased  by  the  addition  of  appendices,  served  in  a 
most  unsatisfactory  manner  until  1778.  A  new  hymnal  was 
therefore  now  an  absolute  and  unavoidable  necessity.  Gregor 
however  accomplished  his  task  so  excellently  that  it  remained 
in  use  in  the  churches  for  a  hundred  years.  He  added  to  the 
Brethren's  own  hymns  selections  that  were  the  collective 
treasure  of  evangelical  Christians,  after  the  model  of  the  hymn- 
book  of  1735.  The  whole  collection  was  massed  into  sixty 
groups  with  reference  to  the  festivals  of  the  Christian  year  and 
the  needs  of  the  religious  life.  Its  year  of  pubHcation  was  1778, 
and  a  tune-book  by  the  same  author  followed  in  1784.  Both 
were  treasured  in  the  congregations  and  amongst  the  Diaspora 
from  generation  to  generation." 

The  twenty-first  general  synod  convened  on  June  i,  1789, 
in  Herrnhut.  A  new  departure  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  British 
delegates  presented  themselves  without  having  been  confirmed 
by  lot.  Gregor  became  president,  the  previous  election  of 
Spangenberg  having  been  negatived  by  the  lot.  From  the  out- 
set it  was  apparent  that  great  differences  of  opinion  existed 
with  reference  to  the  retention  and  employment  of  this  usage  of 
the  church.  Great  dif?iculties  had  arisen  in  the  way  of  enforc- 
ing marriage  by  lot  in  the  town  and  country  congregations. 
Hence  synod  resolved  that  although  the  usage  should  be  re- 
tained in  the  "settlements,"'  exceptions  might  be  allowed  in 
the  other  congregations,  such  cases  to  be  decided  by  the  local 
conference  in  conjunction  with  the  governing  conference  of  the 
Province.  On  the  mission  fields  the  institution  had  been  intro- 
duced only  in  Greenland,  and  here  it  was  now  to  be  abolished. 

The  affairs  of  the  missions  were  given  special  prominence. 
Bishop  John  Frederick  Reichel  had  little  of  encouragement  to 
report  as  a  result  of  his  recent  visit  to  the  East  Indies.  Yet 
indirectly  his  long  journey  was  to  give  the  initiatve  to  work 
elsewhere.  During  his  stay  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  he  had 
heard  how  the  Hottentots  cherished  the  memory  of  George 
Schmidt.  Now  it  was  resolved  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
Dutch  East  Indian  Company.  Operations  were  to  be  begun 
also  on  the  West  Indian  island  of  Tobago.  The  missions  were 
found  to  have  assumed  such  proportions,  that  it  was  deter- 
mined to  add  a  fourth  department  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ference,  to  be  specifically  charged  with  the  superintendence. 
This  board  was  to  reside  permanently  at  Berthelsdorf.  As 
now  constituted  it  consisted  of  the  following:  Missions  De- 
partcment,  Liebisch,  Reichel  and  Verbeek ;  Heifer  Departcnient, 
Gregor,  Risler,  Briant ;  Dicner  und  Vorsteher  Departement,  Count 
Henry  28th  Reuss,  De  Watteville,  Spangenberg  and  Stern- 
berg; Auf seller  Departement,  Loretz,  Quandt  and  J.  F.  Kolbing. 
Although  the  general  financial  situation  had  improved,  a  debt  of 
40,000  thaler  was  reported  in  the  mission  accounts.  In  a  few 
days,  however,  15,000  were  received,  10,000  being  the  gift  of 
Count  Reuss.  Arrangements  were  made  for  issuing  quarterly 
reports  of  the  work  for  the  information  of  friends  of  the  Breth- 
ren's Church  in  Britain;  and  thus  Periodical  Accounts  Relating  to 
Moravian  Missions,  probably  the  oldest  periodical  devoted  wholly 
to  the  dissemination  of  intelligence  concerning  Protestant  mis- 
sions, came  into  being.  Finally,  in  order  to  withdraw  candi- 
dates for  church  service  from  the  influence  of  neighboring  uni- 
versities, tainted  with  the  poison  of  Rationalism,  synod  ordered 
the  transfer  of  the  seminary  from  Barby  to  Niesky  and  of  the 
college  to  Barby. 

Special  attention  was  now  being  paid  to  two  forms  of  Chris- 
tian usefulness,  the  Diaspora  activity  and  the  schools  of  the 
church.  The  former  had  reached  its  zenith.  On  November  i, 
1785,  a  convention  of  forty-four  of  the  ministers  who  were  em- 
ployed in  this  field  assembled  at  Herrnhut.  Fundamental  prin- 
ciples for  the  conduct  of  the  work  were  formulated  and  care- 
fully considered  instructions  drawn  up,  that  the  possibility  of 
proselytism  might  be  removed  and  the  wisest  means  of  promot- 
ing the  culture  of  Christian  character  amongst  the  members  of 
the  State  Churches  employed.  The  field  of  operations  was 
divided  into  twenty  districts:  I.  Lusatia,  centering  about 
Herrnhut,  Niesky  and  Kleinwelke.  2.  Silesia,  around  Gnaden- 
frei,  Gnadenberg,  Gnadenfeld  and  Neusalz.  3.  Brandenburg, 
near  Berlin,  and  Potsdam,  in  Priegnitz  and  Altmark.  4.  Pom- 
merania,  in  the  vicmity  of  Stettin,  Rugen  and  Mecklenburg.  5. 
In  East  Prussia,  Konigsberg,  Danzig,  Elbing,  to  the  borders  of 
Lithuania.  6.  The  Gnadau  district,  i.  e.,  Magdeburg,  Halber- 
stadt,  Altmark,  the  Harz.  7.  Brunswick  and  Hanover.  8.  The 
Neudietendorf  District,  i.  e.,  Thuringia.  9.  The  Ebersdorf  Dis- 
trict, i.  e.,  Voigtland,  the  Erzgebirge,  Franconia,  Upper  Palati- 
nate and  the  Vogelsgebirge.     10.  The  Neuwied  District,  the 


2^6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Palatinate,  Wetteravia,  etc.  ii.  The  Niederheim  District, 
Berg,  Cleves,  etc.  12.  The  South  German,  i.  e.,  Wiirttemberg 
and  Alsace.  13.  The  Holstein  District;  Hamburg,  Altona  and 
vicinity.  14.  Denmark;  Schleswig,  Fiinen,  Copenhagen  and 
Christiansfeld.  15.  Norway;  Christiania,  Drammen  and  Ber- 
gen. 16.  Sweden;  Stockholm  and  Gothenburg.  19.  Switzer- 
land; Montmirail,  Basel,  Berne,  Ziirich  and  the  Grisons. 
20.  Holland.  The  societies  in  the  last  two  districts  only  were 
amongst  the  Reformed,  the  remainder  being  amongst  Luth- 
erans. In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the  main  results  of  this 
unselfish  and  unpretentious  nurture  of  spiritual  life  did  not 
come  to  the  surface.  But,  as  Burkhardt  says,  "by  means  of  a 
thousand  larger  and  smaller  channels  of  influence,  by  means 
of  itinerant  preaching  and  house-to-house  visitation,  and  not 
least  of  all  through  the  circulation  of  the  publications  of  the 
Brethren,  true  life,  warm  heart  life  of  living  faith,  was  infused 
into  the  church,  and  apprehension  of  the  personal  fellowship 
of  the  forgiven  sinner  with  the  Saviour  imparted  as  a  more 
precious  possession  than  the  mere  maintenance  of  a  coldly  cor- 
rect faith  of  intellect  overagainst  Rationalism."  Intercourse 
with  the  Brethren  served  as  a  safeguard  for  many  who  wished 
to  be  preserved  from  having  their  faith  undermined  by  the 
fashionable  unbelief  of  the  times,  or  from  being  satisfied  with 
a  merely  surface  appearance  of  Christian  life,  the  external  garb 
of  a  dead  supernaturalism.  Moreover,  whenever  revivals  of 
religion  arose  beyond  their  immediate  affiHations,  as  in  the 
nineties  in  Wurttemberg  and  in  the  Netz-  and  Warthe-bruch, 
the  Brethren  gladly  lent  a  hand  to  serve  the  awakened  with  their 
counsel  and  the  teaching  of  their  own  experience. 

In  the  educational  field  the  leading  characteristic  was  the 
hearty  acceptance  of  this  trust  as  carrying  with  it  a  responsi- 
bility second  only  to  that  of  the  missions  themselves.  Recog- 
nition of  this  special  opportunity  to  helpfully  influence  the  age 
had  been  connected  with  the  stringency  of  the  post-Zinzen- 
dorfian  era.  Up  to  the  year  1769  provision  had  been  made  for 
the  education  of  the  children  of  all  members  of  the  settlement- 
congregations.  Gradually  the  cost  was  found  too  heavy  to  be 
carried  without  some  change.  The  synod  of  1769  therefore 
ordered  the  abandonment  of  the  large  schools  as  undertakings 
for  which  the  Unity  as  such  was  responsible,  and  relegated  the 
education  of  the  children  to  the  individual  settlements,  each 


AUGUSTUS    GOTTLIEB  SPANGENBERG. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


being  expected  to  make  local  provision  for  its  own  young  people. 
Only  the  children  of  those  who  were  employed  in  the  under- 
takings of  the  Unity  remained  in  the  schools  belonging  to  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  their  education  being  regarded  as  part  of 
the  compensation  due  to  the  parents  and  as  a  necessity  in  the 
case  of  those  who  labored  in  foreign  parts  or  who  were  liable 
to  removal  from  one  sphere  of  activity  to  another  at  shortest 
notice.  In  order  to  lighten  the  financial  burden  various  congre- 
gations threw  open  their  parochial  schools  to  the  children  of 
others  than  members,  making  provision  for  board  as  well  as  tui- 
tion. This  process  of  development  marked  the  years  1776-1782. 
For  sons  of  friends  a  college  was  founded  at  Uhyst  on  the 
Spree  in  1784.  It  attained  to  particular  eminence  in  the 
years  from  1787  to  1791.  Baron  Peter  von  Hohenthal,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Upper  Consistory  at  Dresden,  accepted  the 
position  of  President.  The  beginning,  hke  most  beginnings, 
was  attended  with  difficulty.  But  after  a  change  in  personnel, 
when  at  Easter,  1787,  John  Hartley,  Renatus  Frueaufif  and  John 
ChristHeb  Mahler,  gifted  teachers,  joined  forces  in  its  behalf, 
the  change  for  the  better  speedily  followed. 

Meantime  the  old  leaders  were  one  by  one  passing  away.  In 
1/75)  Waiblinger;  in  1776,  Godfrey  Clemens;  in  1777,  Count 
Dohna,  the  husband  of  Agnes  von  Zinzendorf;  Frederick  de 
Watteville,  Cranz,  Lieberkiihn,  Frederick  Wenceslaus  Neisser 
and  Count  Sigismund  Augustus  von  Gersdorf;  in  1778,  John 
Henry  von  Zezschwitz;  in  1779,  David  Nitschmann  the  Syndic 
and  Jonas  Paulus  Weiss;  in  1781,  Melchior  Zeisberger;  in  1783, 
John  Nitschmann,  jr.,  and  Grasmann;  in  1785,  Henry  von 
Bruyningk  and  George  Schmidt;  in  1786,  John  Frederick 
Kober;  in  1788,  Anthony  von  Liidecke,  Paul  Eugene  Layritz 
and  John  de  Watteville — entered  into  their  rest.  An  event 
which  aroused  liveliest  sympathy  throughout  the  church  was 
the  departure  of  Spangenberg  at  Berthelsdorf,  88  years  of  age, 
on  September  18,  1792.  The  last  time  he  officiated  at  a  public 
service  had  been  in  connection  with  the  festival  of  November 
13  at  Herrnhut,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  experiences  of 
the  synodical  conference  in  London.  On  that  occasion  he  de- 
livered an  address  full  of  feeling  and  power,  although  he  had  to 
be  led  to  the  place  from  which  he  spoke.  He  had  spent  sixty 
years  of  labor  for  the  Unity,  to  which  he  had  rendered  services 
second  only  to  those  of  Zinzendorf. 


238 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


AMERICAN  AFFAIRS,  FROM  THE  LEAVING  OF  SPANGENBERG  TO  THE 
EVE  OF  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Periods  of  transition  are  not  usually  characterized  by  promi- 
nent evidences  of  advance.  Rearrangement  and  readjustment 
imply  a  staying  of  those  forces  which  condition  visible  progres- 
sion, though  the  while  there  may  be  unseen  gatherings  of  ac- 
cumulated resources  that  shall  burst  forth  with  all  the  greater 
vigor  after  favorable  conditions  shall  have  at  last  secured  for 
them  a  less  hampered  working  out  of  their  destiny.  With  the 
gradual  abrogation  of  the  essential  features  of  the  "Economy," 
the  Brethren's  Church  in  America  was  entering  upon  a  period 
of  transition  which  was  to  last  for  upwards  of  a  century;  for 
until  exclusivism  had  been  completely  put  aside  it  remained  of 
necessity  something  of  an  exotic  on  American  soil.  Not  that 
growth  was  wholly  absent ;  but  what  growth  there  was  lacked 
system  and  design. 

In  the  period  immediately  following  the  return  of  Spangen- 
berg  and  Bohler  to  Europe  Bishops  Seidel  and  Hehl,  together 
with  Von  Marschall  as  general  warden,  were  charged  with  the 
leadership.  Seidel's  career  had  given  him  wide  experience. 
Born  at  Lauban  in  Silesia,  in  1718,  he  had  fled  to  Herrnhut  on 
reaching  his  majority,  and  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  "First  Sea  Congregation."  Active  as  an  itinerant 
evangelist,  he  had  assisted  also  in  the  Indian  mission.  From 
Massachusetts  to  Maryland,  and  from  Long  Island  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  west  and  north  branches  of  the  Susquehanna,  he 
had  journeyed  on  foot,  carrying  the  gospel  to  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men.  Besides  making  visits  to  Europe  on  business 
of  the  church,  he  had  twice  inspected  the  work  in  the  West 
Indies,  had  participated  in  the  Moravian  colonization  of  North 
Carolina,  and  had  been  one  of  three  to  visit  the  Governor  of 
Surinam  and  negotiate  for  a  renewal  of  temporarily  suspended 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Operations  there.  His  wife,  Anna  Joanna  Piesch,  the  niece  of 
Anna  Nitschmann,  had  formerly  enjoyed  intimate  association 
with  Count  Zinzendorf  and  the  circle  of  his  immediate  coad- 
jutors. Marschall,  born  near  Dresden  in  1721,  had  been  des- 
tined for  the  military  profession,  his  father  being  commandant 
of  the  garrison  at  Stolpe  and  later  of  the  important  fortress  of 
Konigstein,  the  key  to  the  upper  Elbe.  Whilst  a  student  at 
Leipsic  he  had  been  attracted  to  the  Brethren's  Church.  His 
fields  of  service  had  been  in  Holland  and  in  England,  where  his 
business  ability  had  been  displayed  in  helping  to  disentangle  the 
imperilled  finances. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  American  activity  was  the  inaugu- 
ration of  a  church  academy.  In  1755  and  1756  a  spacious  stone 
building,  known  as  "Nazareth  Hall,"  had  been  erected  at  Naza- 
reth as  a  manor  house  for  Count  Zinzendorf,  whose  return  to 
America  was  then  expected.  Since  1759  it  had  been  devoted 
to  educational  purposes.  Of  this  school  Francis  Lembke  be- 
came principal  in  1763.  A  student  at  Strasburg  and  Jena,  he 
had  been  appointed  a  professor  in  the  gymnasium  of  the  former 
city  in  1735.  Resigning  in  1746  in  order  to  unite  with  the 
Brethren,  he  had  occupied  various  posts  in  Germany  and  Eng- 
land previous  to  coming  to  America  in  1754.  Most  gratifying 
results  attended  his  first  efforts  in  connection  with  the  school, 
its  pupils  at  one  time  numbering  one  hundred  and  six.  But 
the  financial  straits  of  the  church  necessitated  its  suspension  in 
1779. 

Other  obstacles  thwarted  both  educational  and  evangeHstic 
activity.  The  representatives  of  high  contracting  powers  might 
solemnly  meet  and  negotiate  terms  of  peace  in  Europe,  but 
their  signatures  to  the  stipulations  at  Paris  did  not  necessarily 
quiet  the  perturbations  of  the  western  world.  Pontiac  had  been 
dreaming  of  the  utter  extinction  or  expulsion  of  the  English, 
and  his  designs  should  be  checked  by  no  treaty  to  which  his 
allies,  the  French,  were  committed.  In  May,  1763,  the  rising 
of  the  red-men,  which  was  to  have  swept  from  Detroit  to  the 
ocean,  began  with  the  siege  of  that  frontier  fortress  by  the  wily 
Ottawa  in  person.  Though  the  staunchness  of  Gladwyn  foiled 
him,  Sandusky,  Fort  St.  Joseph,  Fort  Miami,  Michilimackinac, 
Presqu'  Isle,  and  Fort  Venango  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  sav- 
ages, and  Fort  Pitt  was  beleagured.  Many  of  the  settlements 
of  Western  Pennsylvania  were  ravaged.    Bouquet's  expedition, 


240 


A  HISTORY  OF 


sent  to  cover  the  western  border  of  the  colony,  encountered 
desperate  foes,  and  only  after  well-nigh  repeating  Braddock's 
experience  reached  Fort  Pitt  with  reHef.  Now  the  exasperated 
frontiersmen  of  the  Susquehanna  resorted  to  bloody  retaUation, 
directing  their  fury  against  the  friendly  and  civiHzed  tribesmen 
near  the  settlements,  and  the  massacre  of  the  Conestoga  In- 
dians stained  the  annals  of  Pennsylvania.  Prior  to  this  the 
colonial  authorities  had  entertained  fears  for  the  Moravian  In- 
dians at  Nain  and  Wechquetank.  Dreading  a  counterpart  of 
the  Conestoga  massacre  at  their  villages.  Governor  Penn  had 
therefore  already  ordered  the  Moravian  Indians  to  be  removed 
to  Philadelphia  for  safety,  together  with  their  missionaries, 
Zeisberger,  Grube,  Schmick  and  Roth.  Excitement  ran  high 
in  the  city.  Members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  setting  aside 
their  peace  principles  in  the  conflict  of  duties,  took  arms  to  de- 
fend their  charges  against  whom  the  frontiersmen  swore  ven- 
geance. For  a  time  the  lives  of  the  missionaries  and  of  their 
converts  appeared  to  be  in  serious  danger.  But  actual  strife 
was  providentially  averted,  though  the  arrangements  for  their 
sustenance  at  Province  Island,  the  summer-quarantine  of  the 
port,  were  distressingly  inadequate,  and  the  evidences  of  inse- 
curity and  of  possible  inabiHty  to  protect  them  led  to  an  attempt 
to  remove  them  to  New  York.  Thither  they  proceeded  under 
escort.  But  when  Perth  Amboy  was  reached  they  were  stopped 
by  a  peremptory  inhibition  of  further  advance,  and  had  to  re- 
trace their  weary  steps.  Returned  to  Philadelphia,  the  bar- 
racks were  assigned  as  their  quarters.  Now  came  a  rumor  that 
men  from  Lancaster  and  Reading  were  marching  on  the  capital, 
bent  on  having  the  lives  of  the  Moravian  Indians.  Philadelphia 
surged  with  excitement,  a  large  part  of  the  people  sympathizing 
with  the  Paxton  party.  Again  blows  were  averted  by  the  de- 
termined position  of  the  Governor  and  his  associates,  backed 
by  the  sober  treaty-respecting  majority.  But  terrible  distress 
was  experienced  by  the  Indians  and  their  teachers  in  their 
cramped  quarters  and  from  the  unnatural  mode  of  life.  Con- 
finement enfeebled  them.  Dysentery  and  small-pox  broke  out. 
From  January,  1764,  to  March,  1765,  fifty-six  victims  of  bar- 
rack life  were  laid  in  the  Potter's  Field. 

For  the  American  branch  of  the  church  the  year  1765  was 
further  rendered  noteworthy  by  a  visit  of  David  Nitschmann 
the  Syndic,  as  representative  of  the  directing  board  in  Germany. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


241 


One  of  his  first  duties  was  to  convene  a  synod  at  Bethlehem, 
May  30  to  June  4,  characterized  by  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
the  thirty-three  ministers  and  fourteen  lay  delegates — one  of 
them  an  Indian — received  his  report  of  the  transactions  of  the 
synod  of  1764.  Recent  awakenings  were  also  reported  as  at- 
tendant upon  the  itinerations  in  Jersey  and  in  New  England. 
At  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  where  a  congregation  had  been 
organized  in  1758,  in  conection  with  the  transit  of  mission- 
aries to  the  West  Indies,  a  new  church  had  been  built.  At 
Broadbay,  in  Maine,  George  Soelle  had  effected  an  organiza- 
tion in  1762,  consisting  chiefly  of  Germans  from  the  Palatinate 
acquainted  with  the  Brethren  in  their  old  home.  But  the  most 
important  advance  had  been  the  founding  of  the  central  town^^ 
in  Wachovia.  Llarschall  had  been  dispatched  to  take  charge  of 
affairs  there  in  1763,  and  had  platted  the  town  next  spring,  giv- 
ing it  the  name  Salem  according  to  the  wish  of  Zinzendorf. 
Salem  was  destined  to  be  the  Bethlehem  of  North  Carolina,  and 
speedily  assumed  fair  proportions  through  the  influx  of  col- 
onists from  Europe.  Marschall's  associate  in  the  management 
of  affairs  here  was  John  Ettwein,  who  also  devoted  himself  to 
evangelistic  labors,  itinerating  as  far  south  as  Georgia. 

From  October  20  to  23,  1768,  a  synod  was  in  session  at  Lititz, 
at  which  Bishop  Hehl  presided.  It  became  notable  as  the  last 
convention  of  a  legislative  body  in  the  American  division  of  the 
church  under  the  arrangements  of  the  old  constitution.  Owing 
to  the  principles  of  centralization,  adopted  at  Marienborn  in  the 
following  year,  eighty-one  years  were  to  pass  before  an  Ameri- 
can synod  should  convene. 

Changes  in  connection  with  the  holding  of  title  to  congrega- 
tion property  also  ensued.  In  1770  Christian  Gregor,  John 
Loretz  and  Hans  Christian  Alexander  von  Schweinitz  were 
commissioned  to  visit  the  American  congregations  in  order  to 
carry  into  effect  the  resolutions  which  had  been  adopted.  Von 
Schweinitz  had  been  appointed  administrator  of  the  property 
in  America  which  belonged  to  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  such,  and 
at  the  same  time  was  to  be  the  representative  of  the  governing 
board  in  the  American  executive  committee,  known  by  various 
titles  since  the  abrogation  of  the  Economy  and  last  of  all  as  the 
Oeconomats  Confercnz.  A  settlement  was  to  be  effected  be- 
tween the  American  estates  belonging  to  the  Unity  as  a  whole 
and  the  property  of  the  individual  congregations.  The  nego- 
17 


242 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tiations  were  protracted  through  the  next  five  years.  Typical 
of  the  agreements  was  that  with  the  congregation  at  Bethle- 
hem, in  accordance  with  which  it  acquired  from  the  Unity 
almost  four  thousand  acres  of  land  and  the  houses  and  business 
concerns  yet  belonging  to  the  church  by  assuming  $87,000  of 
the  debt  of  the  Unity,  and  by  agreeing  to  pay  annually  a  certain 
sum  towards  the  defrayal  of  the  joint  expenses  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  church,  included  in  what  was  now  known  as  the 
American  Sustentation  Diacony. 

In  1 771  the  three  commissioners  visited  Wachovia,  dissolved 
the  local  Economy,  and  organized  an  executive  committee  dis- 
tinct from  that  in  Pennsylvania.  Thus  a  transfer  of  titles  was 
providentially  effected  just  before  the  storm  of  war  broke,  and 
serious  complications  were  averted. 

In  both  divisions  of  the  American  field  attempts  at  extension 
also  preceded  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  In  the  latter  part  of 
November,  1774.  the  site  for  a  settlement  was  surveyed  not  far 
from  the  present  town  of  Oxford,  in  New  Jersey,  on  land  pur- 
chased from  Samuel  Green,  a  member  of  the  church  who  had 
previously  offered  it  as  a  gift.  At  first  known  as  Greenland, 
its  name  was  soon  changed  to  Hope.  During  the  years  1773 
and  1775  Friedberg  and  Friedland  were  commenced  in  Wacho- 
via. To  these  new  clearings  in  the  sunny  South-land  the 
Broadbay  members  moved  practically  as  one  united  body,  glad 
to  leave  the  bleak  ruggedness  of  Maine.  On  the  invitation  of 
Mr.  Knox,  Under-Secretary  of  State  in  London,  in  1774  Lewis 
Miiller  and  John  George  Wagner  were  sent  to  his  estate  at 
Knoxborough  in  Georgia  to  attempt  to  renew  missionary  labor 
in  harmony  with  the  first  purpose  of  the  Brethren  in  coming  to 
America.  Early  next  year  Andrew  Brosing  from  Wachovia 
joined  them  in  their  effort  to  bring  the  gospel  to  the  slaves,  and 
preaching  was  commenced  at  the  neighboring  estate  of  Silk- 
hope  also.  But  Miiller  died  of  fever  in  November,  and  the  in- 
cipient conflicts  of  the  struggle  for  national  independence  ren- 
dered the  situation  hopeless.  Brosing  returned  to  Wachovia 
and  Wagner  to  England. 

The  Indian  mission  in  the  North  was  acquiring  new  import- 
ance. At  the  end  of  the  Pontiac  War  there  was  no  reason  why 
the  Moravian  Indians  should  not  be  released  from  their  virtual 
imprisonment  in  Philadelphia.  But  whither  should  they  go? 
Public  opinion  in  its  exasperated  state  would  not  discriminate 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


in  favor  of  these  Christianized  Delawares.  The  government 
felt  obliged  to  insist  on  their  removal  beyond  the  territory  long 
ago  ceded  to  the  colony.  Nain  and  Wechquetank  must  be  per- 
manently abandned.  The  Indians  themselves  desired  to  secure 
new  homes  in  the  wilderness  at  such  a  remove  from  the  whites 
as  might  promise  immunity  from  future  encroachments.  At 
this  juncture  Papunhank  who  had  been  baptized  by  Zeisberger 
in  1763,  proposed  that,  government  permitting,  the  entire  band 
of  converts  should  proceed  with  him  to  his  sheltered  little  valley 
where  the  Wyalusing  leaps  dashing  and  foaming  to  join  the 
mighty  Susquehanna.  The  proposal  won  the  consent  of  all 
concerned.  Early  in  April,  1765,  eighty-three  persons,  includ- 
ing a  few  from  the  once  flourishing  Pachgatgoch,  a  mission  that 
never  really  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  war,  though  its 
existence  was  protracted  till  1770,  set  out  from  Bethlehem  for 
their  new  home.  David  Zeisberger  and  John  Jacob  Schmick 
accompanied  them.  The  toilsome  and  perilous  march  across 
the  mountains  and  through  the  unbroken  and  often  swampy  wil- 
derness occupied  five  weary  weeks.  For  food  dependence  had 
to  be  placed  largely  upon  the  finding  of  game,  and  sometimes 
the  supply  almost  failed.  Roads  had  to  be  made  and  streams 
bridged.  A  woman  and  a  boy  succumbed  to  the  hardships  of 
the  exodus.  Permission  to  occupy  the  site  of  the  old  village 
was  obtained  from  the  Iroquois  of  Cayuga  who  claimed  the  val- 
ley of  the  Susquehanna  to  this  point,  Zeisberger's  adoption 
into  their  nation  being  a  powerful  plea.  At  a  slight  remove 
from  the  former  site  a  permanent  town  was  platted,  and  named 
Friedenshutten  (Tents  of  Peace),  outpost  of  the  Prince  of  Peace 
amongst  the  warring  tribes  of  savages  and  a  refuge  for  the 
"brown  hearts"  who  had  roved  so  long  against  their  own  de- 
sire. In  September,  1776,  Zeisberger  was  compelled  to  proceed 
with  Senseman  to  Onondaga,  in  order  to  avert  a  threatened  dis- 
avowal of  the  grant  of  the  Cayugas  on  the  part  of  the  Iroquois 
council.  He  was  eminently  successful.  The  council  distinctly 
recognized  and  approved  of  the  purposes  of  the  missionaries. 
He  himself  was  invited  to  become  a  respected  resident  at  the 
Indian  capital,  as  in  former  days.  But  the  church  found  it- 
self unable  to  reenter  upon  missions  amongst  the  powerful  con- 
federation of  the  Six  Nations,  and  Zeisberger's  activity  was  to 
be  henceforth  confined  to  the  Delawares. 


244 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Meanwhile  John  Roth,  a  Brandenburger  in  his  fortieth  year, 
had  been  sent  to  assist  Schmick  at  Friedenshiitten.  Their 
labors  as  those  of  Zeisberger  previously,  were  richly  blessed. 
The  settlement  itself  was  an  admirable  object  lesson  of  the 
thrift  and  industry  which  accompanied  the  civilizing  power  of 
the  gospel,  and  at  the  same  time  seeds  of  truth  were  scattered 
in  many  a  direction  by  the  impressions  made  upon  frequent  visi- 
tors from  many  tribes,  for  the  place  lay  on  the  main  trail  from 
the  Iroquois  towns  to  the  Indians  of  the  south.  In  1769  Roth 
and  his  wife  removed  to  Schechschiquanink,  a  Delaware  town 
twenty-four  miles  to  the  north  and  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river.  From  this  filial  Friedenshiitten  received  accessions,  and 
here  Roth  won  a  number  of  converts.  John  George  Jung- 
mann,  once  a  hearer  of  Eschenbach  at  Oley,  and  his  wife,  a 
daughter  of  Biittner  of  Shekomeko,  filled  the  vacancy  at  Wyalu- 
sing. 

Zeisberger  had  been  assigned  pioneer  work.  With  Anthony, 
the  Mohican,  and  Papunhank  he  had  set  out  for  the  forests  of 
the  present  Venango  County.  Goschgoschiink,  a  Muncie  town, 
founded  only  two  years  before,  was  their  objective.  Its  repu- 
tation was  extremely  imsavory  even  amongst  the  heathen,  past 
whose  scanty  lodges  they  had  to  thread  their  way.  Some  of 
its  braves  had  figured  in  the  massacre  on  the  Mahoni  in  1755. 
His  first  address  at  this  spot  was  a  thrilling  experience.  In  the 
long  council-hall  of  bark  the  ruddy  glow  of  the  central  fires  lit 
up  dusky  faces  that  gleamed  with  hate.  But  the  power  of  the 
truth,  and  the  eloquence  of  the  veteran  missionary,  more  than 
the  equal  of  the  average  Delaware  orator  in  his  own  sonorous 
tongue,  commanded  attention,  and  secured  immunity.  On  his 
return  next  year  trophies  were  won  for  the  gospel.  Yet  the 
place  proved  a  veritable  stronghold  of  Satan.  Though  the 
medicine  man  who  had  been  loudest  in  his  opposition.  Wagon- 
men,  suffered  his  lodge  to  be  converted  into  a  church  when  an 
attempt  was  made  to  found  a  mission,  the  wily  fellow  was  far 
from  having  experienced  a  change  of  heart,  and  in  time  resumed 
open  hostility.  Gradually  the  people  divided  into  a  Christian 
and  a  heathen  party.  Life  became  so  unbearable  for  the  con- 
verts, that  in  1769  a  new  site  was  selected  for  their  village  three 
miles  above,  at  Lawmakhannek,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river 
Allegheny. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Now  an  invitation  came  through  Glikkikan,  a  sachem  re- 
nowned for  sagacity  and  eloquence,  hitherto  a  champion  of 
heathenism,  but  recenth^  impressed  by  what  he  had  heard  on 
a  visit  to  Goschgoschiink.  In  the  name  of  the  supreme  chief 
of  the  Wolf  clan  of  the  Delawares,  Packanke,  he  promised  the 
missionary  and  his  converts  land  at  Kaskaskunk,  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Shenango  and  the  Mahoni,  for  their  exclusive 
and  undisturbed  possession.  The  invitation  was  accepted.  In 
April,  1770,  the  journey  was  made  in  fifteen  canoes  by  way  of 
the  Allegheny,  the  Ohio  and  the  Beaver,  and  Friedensstadt  was 
founded  on  the  last  named  river.  Now  the  triumph  of  the  gos- 
pel was  signalized  by  the  accession  of  certain  of  the  former 
heathen  party  from  Goschgoschiink  whose  wickedness  had  be- 
come a  reproach  even  to  their  own  people,  and  by  the  conver- 
sion of  Glikkikan  himself.  Veteran  warrior  though  he  was,  this 
rebutter  of  the  Jesuits  in  former  days,  who  had  bafifled  Post  and 
whose  native  gability  had  been  counted  upon  as  a  main  stay  of 
the  heathen,  sobbed  like  a  child,  when  the  love  of  Christ  touched 
his  proud  heart.  Unflinchingly  he  not  only  bore  the  passionate 
reproaches  of  his  chief,  Packanke,  but  even  interposed  to 
avert  from  the  white  teachers  the  wrath  of  the  old  Wolf.  Next 
spring  Zeisberger  with  several  Indians,  Glikkikan  included,  by 
invitation  visited  the  Delawares  of  the  Tuscarawas  River  in 
Ohio  and  preached  before  their  council  in  the  home  of  Neta- 
watwes  (King  Newcomer),  the  recognized  head  of  the  nation. 

By  June,  1771,  Friedenshiitten  numbered  one  hundred  mem- 
bers. But  troubles  were  at  hand.  Though  the  Iroquois  had 
solemnly  ratified  the  grant  of  land  on  the  Wyalusing,  at  the 
treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  in  November,  1768,  they  had  sold  it  to 
Pennsylvania.  John  Penn  had  recognized  the  validity  of  the 
verbal  grant  to  the  mission  and  its  Indians,  and  instructed  his 
surveyors  to  run  no  lines  within  five  miles  of  Friendenshiitten. 
But  an  artful  Delaware,  Job  Chilloway,  to  whom  the  govern- 
ment was  under  obHgation  for  sundry  services  in  the  Pontiac 
War,  represented  to  the  authorities  that  he  had  been  empowered 
by  the  Moravian  Indians  to  ask  for  a  survey  of  Wyalusing,  to 
secure  their  rights.  Hence  the  tenure  of  the  land  threatened  to 
involve  disputes.  At  this  juncture  an  invitation  from  the  Grand 
Council  of  the  Delawares  in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  that  their 
Christian  brothers  should  come  and  occupy  lands  in  Ohio,  ac- 
companied as  it  was  with  the  assurance  that  these  should 


246 


A  HISTORY  OF 


never  be  "sold  under  their  feet  to  the  white  people,"  was  grate- 
fully accepted.  Zeisberger  recommended  the  removal  thither  of 
all  the  converts  from  Pennsylvania.  To  this  the  western  sta- 
tion also  assented.  Netawatwes  proposed  as  a  site  "The  Big 
Spring"  beside  the  Tuscarawas. 

John  Heckewelder,  whose  acquaintance  with  the  Delawares 
dated  from  his  residence  with  Post  near  the  present  Bolivar  in 
Stark  County,  Ohio,  in  1762,  was  appointed  to  cooperate  with 
Zeisberger  and  his  colleagues.  This  reenforcement  left  the 
veteran  free  to  lead  an  advance  party  to  the  Tuscarawas  in  the 
spring  of  1772,  to  prepare  for  the  arrival  of  the  main  body.  The 
luxuriance  of  the  forests  and  the  rich  fertility  of  the  bottom- 
lands as  well  as  the  copious  gush  of  water  from  the  "Big 
Spring"  delighted  the  first  comers.  Late  in  the  summer  Zeisber- 
ger returned  to  Friedensstadt  and  welcomed  the  people  from 
the  Susquehanna,  two  hundred  and  four  souls  who  arrived  in 
two  companies  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop  Ettwein  and 
Roth  respectively.  Then  leaving  Roth  in  charge  of  Friedens- 
stadt, they  made  their  way  to  their  new  home  to  which  they 
gave  the  fitting  name  of  Schdnbrunn  ("Beautiful  Spring").  Next 
year  the  converts  on  the  Beaver  also  took  the  western  trail.  A 
second  station  was  commenced  about  ten  miles  down  the  val- 
ley, designed  originally  for  the  remnant  of  the  Mohican  con- 
gregations. Later  it  received  the  name  of  Gnadenhiitten,  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  spot  on  the  Mahoni,  rendered 
sacred  by  the  martyrdom  of  missionaries.  Four  years  from 
the  removal  to  the  west  a  third  station  was  begun  in  the  present 
Coshocton  County,  and  named  Lichtenau  (Meadow  of  Light) ; 
but  was  abandoned  three  years  later  owing  to  its  being  in  the 
track  of  incessant  war-parties.  In  its  place  Salem  was  com- 
menced, five  miles  below  Gnadenhiitten. 

Now  the  mission  seemed  to  have  been  at  last  placed  on  a 
permanent  basis.  Netawatwes  came  out  on  the  side  of  Chris- 
tianity. Numerous  bands  of  Indians  from  all  parts  visited  the 
Christian  settlements.  Its  influence  spreading  far  and  wide, 
the  mission  promised  to  achieve  a  mighty  change  amongst  the 
"People  of  the  wandering  eye  and  the  roving  foot."  The  church 
at  Schonbrunn,  although  able  to  accommodate  five  hundred  per- 
sons, often  proved  too  small.  The  six  missionaries  whose  de- 
voted lives  were  as  powerfully  eloquent  a  testimony  as  their 
words,  found  abundant  opportunity  to  offer  the  gift  of  grace. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


247 


Civilization  advanced.  Several  hundred  acres  were  under  cul- 
tivation. Large  herds  of  cattle  were  maintained.  Non-com- 
batant principles  were  an  inseparble  part  of  the  reHgion  of  the 
converts.  It  seemed  as  though  the  true  solution  of  the  Indian 
problem  was  to  enjoy  an  opportunity  of  being  demonstrated  to 
the  world.  But,  alas !  cruel  war  again  obstructed  the  chariot 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 


248 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


AFFAIRS  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  IRELAND,  FROM  I769  TO  1775- 

That  some  confusion  of  conceptions  should  have  followed  the 
formative  synod  of  1769,  with  its  leaning  to  centralization  in  the 
general  administration  of  the  Unity's  poUty,  was  not  unnatural. 
When  the  skepticism  of  Bolingbroke  and  Hume,  filtering 
through  the  ranks  of  the  educated,  and  affecting  only  too  many 
of  the  clergy  of  the  estabUshment  with  an  indifference  to  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  summoned  every  organization  possessed 
of  vital  Christianity  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints,  and  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  masses,  men 
like  Hutton,  La  Trobe,  Okely  and  Seifferth  perceived  no  rea- 
son why  the  Brethren  in  Britain  should  not  multiply  their  or- 
ganizations as  occasion  and  opportunity  might  offer.  On  the 
other  hand,  upon  the  members  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence the  practical  problem  of  indebtedness,  which  some  of  the 
British  would  have  answered  by  a  reference  to  Matthew  6:33, 
was  pressing  so  sorely  that  they  discountenanced  too  rapid  an 
extension  of  the  work.  Furthermore,  accustomed  to  the  legal 
limitations  that  had  been  thrown  around  the  continental  activ- 
ity, and  laying  stress  upon  the  importance  of  Christian  unity, 
viewing  the  Unitas  Fratrum  not  so  much  as  a  distinct  church 
as  a  federation  of  members  of  various  churches,  they  insi.sted 
that  the  evangelistic  activity  in  Britain  and  Ireland  must  pro- 
ceed on  Hnes  parallel  to  those  of  the  continental  Diaspora.  For 
their  part,  too,  they  were  also  not  wholly  satisfied  with  the  man- 
ner and  measure  of  effort  put  forth  in  England  for  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  Unity's  indebtedness.  The  situation  involved 
easy  possibilities  of  disharmony.  In  the  end,  indeed,  loyalty 
to  the  Unity  prevailed  over  every  other  consideration.  But 
in  the  effort  to  avoid  denominationalism  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference  in  pursuance  of  a  natural  interpretation  of  the  legis- 
lation of  the  synod,  by  an  insistence  upon  the  subordination  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


249 


the  life  and  activity  of  the  church  in  all  its  parts  unintentionally 
prevented  a  development  of  the  Unity  in  conformity  with 
national  traits  and  circumstances  and  impressed  the  cast  of  a 
foreign  body  upon  the  Brethren's  Church  in  Britain  and  in 
America,  with  denominationalism  and  the  crippling  of  energies 
as  a  result. 

Nevertheless  the  vigorous  evangelistic  activity  of  the  British 
Brethren  continued.  More  than  forty  preaching-places  were 
served  in  Scotland  from  the  center  at  Ayr,  Wade  and  Caries 
being  the  chief  evangehsts.  The  latter,  although  a  foreigner, 
had  been  for  years  associated  with  Cennick  in  Ireland,  and  had 
been  active  in  the  "Cheshire  Plan,"  and  this  previous  experi- 
ence together  with  his  natural  gifts  as  a  speaker  fitted  him  to 
be  a  successor  of  Caldwell.  In  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  Cheshire 
and  Derby  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  itineracy  was  still  the 
order  of  the  day.  In  the  Midlands  a  noteworthy  advance  was 
made  by  Francis  Okely,  in  laying  the  corner-stone  of  a  place 
of  worship  at  Northampton,  on  August  31,  1769.  Here  a  small 
society  was  organized  with  filials  at  the  neighboring  towns  of 
Culworth,  Eydon  and  Towcester. 

To  remove  mutual  misunderstandings  and  promote  closer 
connection  with  the  work  in  Britain,  Count  Reuss  and  then 
Peter  Bohler  were  temporarily  transferred  to  England  in  1772 
and  1773. 

A  providential  instrument  as  he  had  been  in  the  conversion 
of  John  Wesley,  it  must  have  been  a  source  of  gratification  to 
Bohler  that  the  estrangement  of  the  Brethren  and  the  Metho- 
dists was  waning  away.  In  its  place  had  come  something  of 
the  true  fellowship  which  was  to  be  expected  from  the  com- 
munity of  interests  between  the  two  bodies  overagainst  the  un- 
belief and  worldliness  which  were  still  only  too  prevalent 
throughout  society  at  large.  The  two  Wesleys  had  laid  aside 
their  old  ill-will,  and  Bishop  Gambold  and  Benjamin  La  Trobe 
had  visited  and  addressed  the  theological  seminary  at  Trevecca, 
in  charge  of  Howell  Harris,  Cennick's  former  coadjutor,  and 
now  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  connection,  to  mutual  satisfaction. 

Bohler's  activity  was  now  drawing  to  an  end.  On  April  20, 
I773>  whilst  preparing  to  conduct  a  service  in  Fetter  Lane,  a 
sudden  stroke  became  his  summons,  and  he  died  on  the  27th. 
He  was  in  his  sixty-third  year. 


250 


A  HISTORY  OF 


In  the  Irish  congregations,  hampered  by  straightened  circum- 
stances and  keenly  feeling  the  animosity  of  neighbors,  Count 
Reuss  found  much  opportunity  to  give  counsel.  In  Dublin  a 
step  forward  was  taken  in  the  securing  of  a  second  place  of 
worship,  on  Stafford  Street,  in  1769.  But  lack  of  encourage- 
ment in  results  led  to  its  abandonment  in  1777,  when  all  effort 
was  concentrated  at  Bishop  Street.  During  the  insurrection 
of  the  Hearts  of  Steel,  a  turbulent  outbreak  against  absentee 
landlordism,  Gracehill  was  in  special  danger.  A  party  of  these 
rebels  approached  the  settlement  and  held  their  nocturnal  meet- 
ings in  its  immediate  vicinity.  In  1772  they  made  a  sudden  at- 
tack upon  the  place.  Surrounding  the  home  of  the  unmarried 
men,  they  fired  at  the  windows  and  demanded  arms.  Observ- 
ing a  light  in  one  of  the  rooms,  they  poured  their  shots  in  and 
wounded  a  brother  in  the  face.  Thence  they  proceeded  to  the 
chapel  and  tried  to  open  the  windows  with  their  bayonets.  The 
warden  of  the  congregation,  Daniel  Gottwald,  opened  the  door 
and  asked  them  what  they  wanted.  Pointing  a  gun  at  him,  the 
leader  of  the  rebels  said :  "You  have  taken  away  the  land  from 
its  former  possessors,  and  we  are  come  to  lay  everything  waste 
with  fire  and  sword  and  drive  you  away.  But  as  you  are  a  man 
of  some  consideration,  whose  opinion  has  much  weight,  we 
thought  it  right  first  to  acquaint  you  with  our  intention."  The 
reply  of  the  warden  and  his  promise  to  procure  for  them  within 
a  fortnight  a  document  from  Dublin,  proving  that  the  land  had 
been  legally  purchased  by  the  Brethren  and  all  demands  of  its 
former  occupier  satisfied,  secured  from  the  captain  a  pledge 
of  delay.  Then  the  rebels  proceeded  to  the  establishment  of 
the  unmarried  women.  A  furious  altercation  ensued  between 
them  and  their  captain,  because  he  would  not  consent  to  their 
proposed  attack.  At  last  he  succeeded  in  dissuading  them,  and 
they  departed  without  doing  any  further  damage.  Gottwald's 
letter  to  the  Brethrens'  minister  in  Dublin  was  presented  to 
Lord  O'Neill,  the  proprietor  of  the  land,  and  he  laid  it  before 
Parliament.  Effective  measures  for  quelling  the  insurrection 
were  soon  adopted,  and  tranquility  was  restored  to  the  land. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


251 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  FROM  1 775  TO  1 792. 

Scarcely  had  the  Moravians  in  America  accustomed  them- 
selves to  the  new  regulations  introduced  by  Gregor,  Loretz 
and  Von  Schweinitz,  when  mutterings  of  approaching  strife 
were  heard.  The  signal  lights  flashed  from  the  steeple  of  the 
Old  North  Church.  Lexington,  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  that  a  war  and  no  mere  riot  was  on  the 
hands  of  the  ministers  of  King  George.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  contest  the  majority  of  the  Brethren  entertained  conserva- 
tive sentiments  or  refused  to  take  sides.  Non-combatants 
from  conscientious  convictions,  they  had  no  special  interest  in 
the  principle  "No  taxation  without  representation;"  Magna 
Charta  had  no  deep  significance  to  the  great  majority  of  them, 
of  other  than  English  birth ;  in  their  former  homes  Habeas  Cor- 
pus was  unknown ;  they  had  personally  received  no  wrongs 
from  government;  rather  in  1749  and  since  Britain  had  laid 
them  under  tribute  of  gratitude ;  and  above  all  this  they  were 
citizens  of  the  world  in  so  true  a  sense  and  to  such  a  degree 
through  their  readiness  to  follow  their  Master's  commission, 
that  it  seemed  to  them  of  comparatively  little  moment  under  * 
what  civil  authorities  they  lived.  Wherever  they  found  them- 
selves in  the  pursuit  of  their  calling  they  endeavored  to  lead  a 
quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  obedience  to  the  laws  and  in  submis- 
sion to  the  powers  providentially  holding  sway.  To  meddle  in 
politics  of  any  sort  was  foreign  to  their  disposition.  After  a 
time  they  did  come  to  perceive  and  accept  the  independence  of 
the  colonies  as  a  providential  development  of  af?airs,  and  far- 
seeing  men  like  Von  Schweinitz  appreciated  and  espoused  the 
colonists'  position  at  a  very  early  stage. 

One  immediate  effect  of  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  was  the 
cessation  of  evangelistic  itineracies.  Communication  between 
the  congregations  became  very  difficult  and  uncertain.  After 


252 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  alliance  with  France  serious  inconvenience  also  arose 
from  the  difficulty  of  corresponding  with  the  authorities  of  the 
church  in  Europe.  Von  Marschall,  who  had  been  sent  as  a 
delegate  to  the  synod  of  1775,  could  not  return  until  1778.  No 
Americans  could  participate  in  the  sj-nod  of  1782.  Heavy  losses 
v/ere  sustained  by  members  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  Staten  Island  and  Newport,  many  of  whom  abandoned 
their  homes,  and  fied  to  secluded  districts. 

The  burden  of  administration  fell  mainly  upon  John  Ettwein, 
the  assistant  of  Bishop  Seidel,  owing  to  the  latter's  advanced 
age.  Born  on  June  29,  1721,  at  Freundenstadt,  in  Wiirttem- 
berg,  he  had  joined  the  church  in  1739  at  Marienborn,  and  had 
served  in  various  capacities.  In  1750  he  had  been  sent  to  Eng- 
land, and  was  called  to  Pennsylvania  in  the  spring  of  1754. 
From  1758  to  1766  his  field  of  labor  had  been  in  the  soutli, 
Since  then  he  had  stood  at  the  side  of  Seidel  in  Bethlehem. 
Although  a  Tory  at  first,  his  sturdy  honesty,  fearless  courage, 
Christian  self-abnegation,  and  strong  native  good  sense,  ]Mora- 
vian  Franklin  that  he  was,  now  secured  him  the  friendship  and 
esteem  of  a  number  of  the  leaders  of  the  patriots — Henry  Lau- 
rens, Samuel  Adams,  John  Hancock  and  George  Washington 
in  particular.  From  intercourse  with  him  these  men  learnt  to 
appreciate  the  standpoint  of  the  Brethren,  and  to  perceive  that 
there  was  no  unwillingness  to  bear  a  full  share  of  taxation  and 
other  burdens,  and  to  minister  to  the  wounded  and  suffering, 
even  though  conscientious  scruples  stood  in  the  way  of  actual 
shouldering  of  arms. 

From  December  3,  1776,  to  March  27,  1777,  and  from  Sep 
tember,  1777,  to  June,  1778,  the  General  Hospital  of  the  Ameri- 
can Army  was  established  in  Bethlehem ;  and  from  December 
1 9'  1777'  to  August  28,  1778,  Lititz  rendered  similar  services. 
From  August,  1777,  to  March,  1778,  Hessian  prisoners  of  war 
were  confined  in  the  Hebron  church.  In  the  Bethlehem  hospi- 
tal, where  the  mortality  was  very  high  owing  to  contagious 
fevers,  Ettwein  served  as  volunteer  chaplain.  Lafayette  was 
nursed  in  a  private  home  in  this  settlement  after  the  Battle  of 
Brandywine.  In  February,  1777,  Bethlehem  became  the  depot 
of  the  military  stores  of  the  American  army,  and  it  was  found 
that  vey  few  towns  in  the  interior  could  supply  all  manner  of 
needs  so  adequately  from  home  manufactures,  thanks  to  the  de- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


velopment  of  very  diversified  industries  during  the  period  of  the 
Economy. 

But  the  peculiar  position  in  which  they  were  placed  by  their 
principles  involved  the  Brethren  in  many  difficulties  and  brought 
on  them  a  heavy  financial  burden.  With  their  repugnance  to 
oaths,  for  them  the  Test  Act  of  1777  filled  the  air  with  storms. 
At  one  time  there  was  reason  to  fear  that  their  refusal  might 
jeopardize  the  title  to  their  properties.  Accordingly  in  1778 
Ettwein  presented  petitions  to  Congress  when  in  session  at 
York,  and  to  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  at  Lancaster,  ask- 
ing to  have  the  Moravians  excepted  from  its  requirements. 
Only  after  several  weeks  of  further  effort  in  Philadelphia  in 
1779  he  at  last  won  his  object.  But  the  Act  had  already  occa- 
sioned great  distress.  For  example,  on  April  4,  1778,  twelve 
members  of  the  Emmaus  congregation  were  imprisoned  at 
Easton,  and  were  kept  on  bread  and  water  till  the  29th  because 
they  refused  to  take  the  oath ;  and  in  September  thirteen  others 
repeated  the  experience. 

Conscientious  scruples  with  respect  to  military  service  called 
for  further  pecuniary  sacrifices.  When  the  Brethren  in  North- 
ampton County  were  notified  by  due  process  of  law  that  unless 
all  men  above  sixteen  years  of  age  presented  themselves  at 
Easton  on  a  certain  day  for  military  duty,  they  would  be  taxed 
three  pounds  three  shillings  for  each  man  between  the  ages  of 
sixteen  and  fifty,  they  resolved  to  pay  the  tax  rather  than  do 
military  duty.  At  one  time  the  fines  thus  imposed  upon  seven 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  ninety-four  pounds.  At  another 
time  eight  men  were  mulcted  to  the  sum  of  four  hundred  and 
one  pounds.  Not  all  the  Brethren  appreciated  the  need  of  re- 
sisting such  arguments.  Towards  the  close  of  the  war  certain 
Brethren  went  to  Easton  to  be  enrolled  without  the  consent  of 
their  authorities,  and  were  severely  reprimanded  and  in  several 
cases  excluded  from  membership.  But  as  time  wore  on  the 
sentiments  of  the  younger  men  underwent  a  marked  change, 
and  by  them  the  new  order  of  things  was  accepted  with  satis- 
faction. Similar  experiences  were  made  in  the  South,  where 
Moravian  lands  narrowly  escaped  confiscation,  and  much 
anxiety  was  lived  through  especially  just  before  and  after  the 
Battle  of  Guilford  Court-house. 

Meantime,  notwithstanding  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country, 
the  development  of  inner  congregational  life  required  atten- 


254 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tion.  With  a  pass  secured  from  the  British  authorities  that 
might  insure  freedom  from  molestation  at  sea,  and  with  letters 
of  recommendation  to  Franklin  from  his  old  friends  Hutton 
and  Spangenberg  that  the  journey  on  land  might  not  be  pro- 
hibited after  a  prosperous  vo3'age,  Bishop  Reichel  reached 
Bethlehem  in  April,  1779,  commissioned  to  adjust  the  Ameri- 
can affairs  of  the  church  to  the  enactments  of  the  synod  of  1775, 
and  to  give  comfort  and  counsel  to  his  Brethren.  On  August  5 
he  convened  a  conference  of  ministers  at  Lititz,  at  which  his 
work  was  mapped  out.  The  very  fact  that  it  was  a  conference  of 
f  ministers,  and  not  a  synod  constituted  of  ministers  and  represen- 
tative of  the  congregations  as  had  hitherto  invariably  obtained 
in  the  American  branch  of  the  church,  was  in  itself  suggestive. 
The  era  of  centralization  had  already  begun,  and  it  could  scarce- 
ly have  been  inaugurated  at  a  time  less  propitious  for  the  future 
of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America.  "No  taxation  without 
representation"  had  been  the  rallying  cry  of  the  colonies  now 
emerging  into  sovereign  statehood.  The  fateful  experiences  of 
the  period  of  strife  had  taught  the  entire  population,  even  sec- 
tions of  it  most  removed  from  active  participation  in  politics, 
that  a  world  of  meaning  lay  in  that  principle.  Home  rule,  from 
the  town-meeting  up,  was  seen  to  be  fundamental  to  American 
life.  Could  a  worse  time  have  been  chosen  for  limiting  to  the 
clergy  the  right  of  even  authoritatively  discussing  church  meth- 
ods, and  for  constraining  even  their  action  to  accommodate 
itself  to  a  mold  that  had  been  rigidly  framed  in  a  land  where 
circumstances  differed  toto  coelo,  and  framed,  too,  without  the 
consent  of  men  who  were  now  to  live  according  to  these  regu- 
lations ?  Had  Ettwein  and  his  associates  received  a  freedom  of 
operation  even  measurably  corresponding  to  that  enjoyed  by 
Asbury  and  Coke,  or  Seabury  and  White  and  Provoost,  the 
future  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America  would  have  assumed 
a  different  form.  But  just  at  the  time  when  the  Methodist  and 
Protestant  Episcopalian  Churches  were  making  provision  for 
natural  activity  and  expansion,  the  tendency  to  ultra-centrali- 
zation in  the  Moravian  Church  caused  it  to  ignore  the  bound- 
less opportunities  in  America  which  carried  with  them  pro- 
portionate responsibilities.  What  was  in  accordance  with  the 
mode  and  spirit  of  the  settlement  congregations  in  European 
lands,  that  lacked  absolute  liberty  of  religion,  was  taken  to  be 
in  and  of  itself  the  supreme  object  of  all  efforts  under  any  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


every  set  of  conditions.  As  in  England,  the  scrupulous  en- 
deavor to  secure  only  an  unquestionably  regenerate  member- 
ship, coupled  with  the  notion  that  the  choir-system  and  the 
regulations  of  the  settlement-congregations  were  exclusively 
the  wisest  methods  unvaryingly  to  be  applied  for  the  attain- 
ment of  this  desired  end,  caused  an  ignoring  of  the  bearing  of 
the  parable  of  the  talents  upon  a  church  in  its  relationship  to 
a  land  still  scantily  supplied  with  a  gospel-ministry.  Subjective, 
introspective,  quietistic  devotion  to  the  culture  of  their  own 
spiritual  hfe  appears  to  have  distorted  the  Brethren's  appre- 
hension of  the  great  commission,  which  demands  a  beginning 
at  Jerusalem,  however  loyal  men  may  be  in  reference  to  the 
claims  of  the  regions  beyond.  In  fact  they  now  passed  to  the 
extreme  of  repudiating  any  purpose  to  organize  new  congrega- 
tions. They  decided  that  "'in  no  sense  shall  the  societies  of 
awakened  persons  affiliated  as  the  fruit  of  the  former  extensive 
itinerations  be  regarded  as  preparatory  to  the  organization  of 
congregations,  and  that  membership  in  these  societies  does  not 
at  all  carry  with  it  communicant  membership  or  preparation  for 
it."  They  carefully  explained  that  these  people  have  been 
grouped  into  societies,  "because  their  attachment  to  the  Breth- 
ren had  caused  their  exclusion  from  the  communions  of  which 
they  had  been  formerly  adherents.  Our  Brethren  have  there- 
fore refrained  from  administering  the  sacraments  amongst 
them."  Had  this  conception  of  the  church's  caUing  prevailed 
during  the  previous  forty  years,  Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  the 
congregations  in  Wachovia  would  have  been  almost  the  only 
congregations  in  America.  If  the  other  organizations  were  legi- 
timate, their  very  existence  should  have  shown  the  falsity  of  the 
theory  now  to  dominate  the  life  of  the  church  in  America  for  half 
a  century. 

After  this  conference  at  Lititz,  Bishop  Reichel  at  great  per- 
sonal inconvenience  visited  almost  all  the  scenes  of  the  church's 
activity.  North  and  South,  David  Zeisberger  moreover  coming 
to  Bethlehem  to  report  to  him  concerning  the  missions  in  Ohio. 
Then  in  April,  1781,  he  convened  a  second  conference  of  min- 
isters to  sum  up  for  them  the  impressions  of  his  visit.  The  most 
important  transaction  was  the  adoption  of  the  Brotherly  Agree- 
ment as  a  fundamental  bond  of  union  incorporated  into  the 
statutes  of  the  various  congregations. 


256 


A  HISTORY  OF 


With  the  death  of  Bishop  Seidel  on  May  12,  1782,  the  re- 
sponsible leadership  more  than  ever  devolved  upon  Ettwein,  the 
finances  being  administered  by  Von  Schweinitz.  In  August 
Bishop  Graff  died  at  Salem.  Hehl,  the  only  surviving  repre- 
sentative of  the  Moravian  episcopate  in  America,  was  now  in 
his  seventy-eighth  year.  Ettwein's  consecration,  which  natur- 
ally followed,  was  delayed  until  the  arrival  of  Bishop  John  de 
Watteville  in  1784,  on  an  official  visit  to  America.  He  and  his 
wife  experienced  the  perils  of  the  deep  when  on  their  way. 
"They  took  ship  at  Amsterdam  and  put  to  sea  on  September 
27,  1783.  In  the  beginning  of  November,  when  off  the  coast 
of  America,  a  series  of  storms  set  in  which  made  it  impossible 
to  reach  New  York.  They  beat  about  in  utter  helplessness, 
provisions  and  water  began  to  fail,  most  of  the  sails  were  torn, 
the  principal  anchor  was  lost,  and  the  ship  itself  very  much 
strained.  In  January  of  1784  they  steered  for  the  West  Indies. 
Watteville  and  his  wife  lived  for  weeks  on  hard  biscuits  and 
beer.  The  supply  of  water  was  entirely  exhausted,  until  a 
copious  rain  replenished  their  casks.  About  the  middle  of  Feb- 
ruary they  at  last  reached  the  West  Indies ;  but  in  the  night  of 
the  17th  the  vessel  struck  a  reef  off  the  island  of  Barbuda  and 
was  lost.  The  passengers  and  crew  took  to  the  boats.  In 
descending  Bishop  de  Watteville  missed  his  hold  and  fell  into 
the  sea.  He  was  rescued  by  two  sailors  with  great  difficulty. 
After  many  escapes  the  entire  ship's  company  reached  the  land. 
The  Governor  of  Barbuda  took  Bishop  de  Watteville  and  the 
Coimtess  into  his  own  house  and  showed  them  great  kindness. 
They  had  been  on  ship-board  one  hundred  and  forty-four  days, 
and  had  suffered  intensely.  In  the  European  and  American 
churches  great  anxiety  prevailed  on  their  account,  and  many 
believed  that  they  were  lost.  They  remained  in  the  West  Indies 
for  several  months  and  then  sailed  to  the  United  States,  where 
they  arrived  in  safety,  reaching  Bethlehem  on  June  2." 

Bishop  de  Watteville's  stay  in  America  lasted  three  years. 
His  duties  were  responsible  and  delicate.  He  was  commis- 
sioned to  communicate  to  the  American  congregations  an  ac- 
count of  the  transactions  of  the  synod  of  1782.  It  had  been 
the  more  unfortunate  that  it  was  not  possible  for  American 
delegates  to  be  present,  because  complaint  had  been  made  of 
the  lack  of  church-spirit  in  the  American  congregations  from 
an  official  point  of  view.    From  an  American  point  of  view  in 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


the  present  century,  it  appears  unfortunate,  however,  that  just  at 
the  present  juncture  this  synod  more  than  ever  encouraged 
painfully  repressive  confinement  of  efifort  to  the  development 
of  a  quietist  type  of  piety  amongst  the  members  of  the  exclu- 
sive settlements  by  the  most  minute  regulations.  Even  the 
town  and  covmtry  congregations  were,  if  possible,  to  be  con- 
-strained  into  conformity  with  the  details  of  rigidly  regulated 
life  and  ritual  which  characterized  the  settlements.  Recourse 
was  to  be  had  to  the  decision  of  the  lot  not  only  in  connection 
with  the  marriage  of  members,  but  also  in  deciding  applications 
for  communicant  membership,  and  in  various  other  contingen- 
cies. The  support  of  the  work  of  the  church  was  derived  from 
the  proceeds  of  business  enterprises  carried  on  for  its  benefit, 
rather  than  from  the  voluntary  gifts  of  the  people.* 


*  Glimpses  at  the  characteristic  features  of  life  in  a  number  of  congregations, 
aftbrded  by  the  records  of  the  conference  of  ministers  at  Lititz  in  1 790  illustrate  the 
effects  of  this  policy.  In  connection  with  Graceham  there  are  150  souls,  of  whom 
only  sixty  are  communicants.  Lancaster,  with  330  persons  in  connection,  has  only 
seventy-two  communicants.  Brother  Meder,  of  Philadelphia,  has  a  membership  of 
176,  but  only  38  communicants.  He  reports  that  the  English  services  are  well 
attended,  but  there  is  no  increase  in  membership.  The  Sprccheji  —  obligatory  visits 
paid  by  the  members  individually  to  the  pastor  at  stated  intervals  for  close  and 
searching  religious  conversation — are  not  the  success  that  might  be  desired.  Very 
few  of  the  Society  members  comply  with  this  requirement.  At  Oldmanscreek,  in 
Jersey,  Brother  Franz  Bohler  reports  a  lack  of  Gemciiiverstand.  Few  children 
attend  the  school.  The  Society  does  not  grow.  He  has  168  members,  only  thirty- 
seven  of  whom  are  communicants.  There  is  a  preaching-place  midway  between  his 
charge  and  Philadelphia,  which  is  occasionally  served  by  Brother  Meder  and  him- 
self. Brother  Mohring,  of  Staten  Island,  has  to  report  that  his  people  will  not 
come  to  the  Sprechen,  especially  not  the  Society  members.  The  occurrence  of  dis- 
orders at  funerals  on  the  Island  is  lamented.  They  are  too  often  made  the  occasion 
for  social  festivity.  He  stands  in  fraternal  relationship  to  the  Episcopalians  and 
Methodists  of  the  vicinity.  He  has  120  members,  of  whom  twenty  are  communi- 
cants. Concerning  Gnadenhiitten,  on  the  Mahoning,  Brother  Schmidt  must  deplore 
that  the  choir-services  are  not  attended.  Amongst  the  seventy-two  persons  in  his 
charge  there  are  thirty-one  communicants.  Brother  Roth,  of  Emmaus,  can  give  his 
congregation  the  credit  of  approaching  most  closely  to  the  norm  of  an  Ortsgevieine 
(settlement-congregation).  The  people  living  near  together,  daily  services  can  be 
maintained.  He  has  144  members,  seventy-four  being  children.  The  communicants 
number  fifty-one.  Schoeneck,  begun  in  1762,  is  not  yet  wholly  detached  from  Naza- 
reth, and  is  still  under  the  supervision  of  the  elders'  conference  of  that  settlement. 
Brother  EUert  Coortsen,  however,  is  schoolmaster  and  has  pastoral  oversight 
there.  Preaching  is  had  only  at  inter\'als,  the  people  generally  attending  the 
Nazareth  church.  The  choir  regulations  are  in  good  condition.  As  to  the  Society 
members  much  can  not  be  said — etwas  schlecht.  Of  the  144  members  only  sixty-six 
18 


258 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Yet  if  there  seems  to  be  failure  to  grasp  the  opportunities 
of  the  times  and  a  lack  of  adaptation  to  the  needs  and  spirit  of 
the  land,  there  are  tokens  of  Hfe  in  some  directions.  The  rapid 
advancement  of  Nazareth  Hall  Academy  for  boys,  reopened  in 
1785  by  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel,  who  with  his  family  had  ar- 
rived from  Germany  in  the  preceding  year,  and  the  even  greater 
growth  of  the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies  at  Bethlehem  under 
John  Andrew  Huebener,  necessitating  a  new  building  in  1789, 
are  very  noteworthy. 

Moreover  the  year  1787  was  marked  by  the  resuscitation  at 
Bethlehem  of  the  old  missionary  society  of  1745,  under  the  title 
of  "The  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Hea- 
then." Its  first  meeting  was  held  September  21,  Ettwein  being 
President,  Hans  Christian  Alexander  von  Schweinitz,  Treasurer, 
and  Jacob  Van  Vleck  .Secretary,  with  a  total  membership  of 
ninety-three.  In  his  address  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  society, 
held  on  November  i.  Bishop  Ettwein  defined  its  object  in  sub- 
stance as  follows :  "Every  member  of  the  Brethren's  Unity  is 
bound  to  take  part  in  furthering  the  missionary  work  of  the 
church ;  but  those  who  join  this  association  pledge  themselves 
in  a  particular  manner  to  do  all  within  their  power  to  further 
Christ's  kingdom  among  the  heathen  nations,  and  confess  be- 
fore the  world  that  they  love  the  whole  human  race  and  take  a 
deep  interest  in  the  eternal  salvation  of  such  as  still  sit  in  the 
darkness  of  heathenism."  A  charter  was  obtained  from  the  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania  and  signed  by  the  Governor  on  February 

are  communicants.  But  there  are  fifty-eight  children,  a  feature  which  gives  the 
school  special  importance.  At  Hebron  the  attendance  at  preaching  is  reported 
to  be  good ;  but  in  other  respects  the  work  is  not  in  a  satisfactory  condition.  The 
communicants  number  only  twenty-four,  although  there  is  a  total  membership  of 
ninety-six.  Heidelberg  is  being  served  from  Hebron,  but  the  results  of  a  recent 
awakening  lead  the  people  to  desire  a  pastor  of  their  own.  He  may  also  serve  as 
schoolmaster.  Here  there  are  fifty-six  in  church  connection,  sixteen  being  com- 
municants. At  York,  where  Brother  Reinke  labors,  services  are  well  attended, 
especially  funerals.  The  school  is  small,  for  the  children  live  at  distances.  The 
Society  decreases.  Good  relations  are  maintained  with  the  Lutherans  and  the 
Reformed.  The  total  membership  is  155,  and  the  communicants  number  thirty- 
eight.  At  Bethel  Brother  Reizenbach  is  pastor.  He  has  a  large  school.  The 
Sprechen  have  been  abandoned  by  him,  and  pastoral  visits  take  their  place.  He 
ministers  to  110  persons,  of  whom  twenty-three  are  communicants.  Brother 
Schweishaupt.  of  Mountjor  (Donegal)  has  to  complain  of  a  weak  congregational 
life.  He  does  not  see  much  good  resulting  from  the  Sprechen.  The  school  is  poorly 
attended.    He  has  seventy-seven  members. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


259 


27,  1788.  Ettwein  communicated  to  General  Washington  that 
organization  had  been  effected,  and  enclosed  a  copy  of  the  rules 
and  a  manuscript  of  his  own  on  the  manners,  customs  and 
languages  of  the  Indians.  The  reply,  under  date  of  May  2,  1788, 
was  in  keeping  with  his  Christian  and  courteous  character.  It 
reads  as  follows : 

"Dear  Sir: — I  have  received  your  obliging  letter  of  March 

28,  inclosing  a  copy  of  some  remarks  on  the  customs,  languages, 
etc.,  of  the  Indians,  and  a  printed  pamphlet  containing  the 
stated  rules  of  a  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
Heathen ;  for  which  tokens  of  polite  attention  and  kind  remem- 
brance I  must  beg  you  to  accept  my  best  thanks. 

"So  far  as  I  am  able  of  judging,  the  principles  upon  which  the 
Society  is  founded,  and  the  rules  laid  down  for  its  government, 
appear  to  be  well  calculated  to  promote  so  laudable  and  arduous 
an  undertaking ;  and  you  will  permit  me  to  add  that  if  an  event 
so  long  and  so  ardently  desired  as  that  of  converting  the  Indians 
to  Christianity  can  be  effected,  the  Society  at  Bethlehem  bids 
fair  to  be  a  very  considerable  part  in  it. 

"With  sentiments  of  esteem,  I  am  your  most  obedient,  humble 
servant,  Geo.  Washington." 

The  resuscitation  of  this  missionary  society  was  an  act  of 
brave  faith ;  for  the  Christian  Indian  villages  whose  prosperity 
it  dehghted  the  veteran  Zeisberger  to  be  able  to  describe  to 
Bishop  Reichel,  were  now  heaps  of  charred  ruins,  and  the  en- 
tire mission  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Soon  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace  a  petition  had  been  addressed  to  Congress,  asking  for 
an  indemnity,  inasmuch  as  these  flourishing  settlements  had 
been  destroyed  by  American  militia.  "On  May  19,  1785, 
Congress  passed  an  act  reserving  the  sites  of  these  settlements 
together  with  as  much  land  as  Mr.  Hutchins,  the  Geographer 
of  the  United  States,  might  see  fit,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Chris- 
tian Indians  and  their  children  forever  Ten  years,  how- 
ever, passed  by  before  the  survey  could  be  completed.  This 
was  owing  in  part  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Hutchins,  but  chiefly  to 
the  distracted  state  of  the  Indian  country  and  the  hostility  which 
the  tribes  manifested  towards  the  United  States.  So  bitter  did 
this  feeHng  grow  and  so  alarming  were  the  outbreaks  that  the 
remnant  of  the  Christian  Indians,  after  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  was  at  last  constrained  to  seek  refuge  in  Canada." 


26o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  tragic  fate  of  the  Christian  Indian  villages  on  the  Tus- 
carawas must  now  be  briefly  recounted. 

Dwelling  directly  in  track  of  marauding  parties  roaming  be- 
tween the  British  frontier  post  of  Detroit  and  the  American  fort 
at  Pittsburgh,  the  very  neutrahty  and  peace  principles  of  the  six 
missionary  families  and  their  converts  drew  down  upon  them 
the  enmity  and  suspicions  of  the  rangers  attached  to  either  side. 
There  had  been  foreshadowings  of  trouble  as  far  back  as  1777. 
Zeisberger's  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  Iroquois  and  Dela- 
wares,  ever  exerted  in  behalf  of  peace,  had  held  in  check  savage 
warriors,  who  otherwise  would  have  swooped  down  on  the 
frontier  settlements,  throwing  the  weight  of  their  hatchets  into 
the  scale  when  the  fate  of  the  colonists  still  hung  in  the  balance. 
Delaware  chiefs  had  resolutely  returned  the  war-belt  which  the 
Hurons  of  Lake  Erie  had  sent,  and  had  thrust  aside  their  plaus- 
ible persuasions  to  despoil  those  who  had  gradually  ousted  them 
from  the  ancient  hunting-grounds.  The  mutterings  of  trouble 
had  later  caused  the  temporary  abandonment  of  Gnadenhiitten, 
and  Lichtenau  had  been  permanently  given  up,  its  place  being 
taken  by  Salem.  Yet  both  Americans  and  British  viewed  the 
mission  askance ;  the  latter  because  to  their  influence  was 
ascribed  the  only  restraint,  which  prevented  large  masses  of 
Delawares  from  enlisting  under  the  standard  of  King  George, 
the  former  from  unfounded  prejudice  and  suspicion  that  the 
mission  stations  harbored  red-skins  in  British  pay,  and  formed 
the  rendezvous  of  raiders.  Despite  all  apprehensions,  however, 
the  missionaries  faithfully  kept  their  posts,  and  the  internal  con- 
dition of  the  congregations  was  a  source  of  satisfaction.  Amidst 
war's  alarms  the  dusky  converts,  some  of  whom  had  formerly 
achieved  a  name  as  warriors,  zealously  pursued  the  arts  of 
peace,  and  meadow  and  orchard  and  field  responded  to  their 
industry. 

On  August  10,  1781,  there  appeared  at  Salem  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men — Indians  and  whites — under  British  officers  and 
bearing  the  British  fl  ig.  Soon  their  number  was  increased  to 
three  hundred.  After  many  councils  had  been  held  by  the 
members  of  this  war-party,  whose  mutual  disagreements  alone 
saved  the  missionaries  and  their  converts  from  a  cruel  death, 
all  were  made  unresisting  prisoners  on  September  4.  The  mis- 
sion-houses were  plundered.  On  the  iith  the  sad  exodus  of 
the  entire  population  of  the  Christian  Indian  villages  com- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


261 


menced.  Five  thousand  bushels  of  ahnost  ripe  but  unharvested 
corn  were  left  behind,  as  well  as  garden  produce  and  poultry 
and  all  property  save  what  could  be  transported  by  the  prisoners 
on  pack-horses  or  in  canoes.  Valuable  manuscripts  were  also 
involved  in  the  general  loss.  At  the  Sandusky  their  captors 
deserted  them  on  October  i,  in  the  midst  of  an  utter  wilderness, 
with  no  other  provisions  than  the  cattle  they  had  driven  before 
them.  Soon  there  came  a  summons  to  the  missionaries  to 
proceed  to  Detroit  for  trial  as  American  spies.  Though  no 
armed  guard  compelled  obedience,  they  responded,  relying  on 
their  innocence.  The  trial  took  place  on  November  9,  Major 
de  Peyster,  the  commandant  presiding.  British  fairness  msured 
the  verdict — a  complete  acquittal.  But  the  disaster  to  the  mis- 
sion could  not  be  compensated  for  by  courteous  words,  even 
though  formal  permission  was  given  to  the  missionaries  to  re- 
turn and  without  hindrance  renew  their  spiritual  calling. 

This  was  a  dreadful  winter  for  the  refugees  on  the  Sandusky. 
Starvation  was  not  far  of?.  A  pint  of  corn  a  day  was  the  al- 
lowance for  each  member  of  the  missionary  family,  and  in  the 
extreme  cold  the  suflfering  was  very  great.  The  heathen  around 
them  gloried  in  the  distress  of  teachers  and  converts,  and 
even  threatened  to  take  the  Hves  of  the  missionaries,  when  an 
attempt  was  made  to  erect  a  chapel.  At  length  in  despair 
a  party  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  Christian  Indians  ob- 
tained permission  from  their  savage  neighbors  to  return  to  the 
Tuscarawas  Valley  and  secure  whatever  of  their  corn  of  the 
previous  year  might  still  remain  unspoiled. 

This  band  soon  experienced  the  terrible  consequences  of 
American  distrust.  These  Christian  red-men  who  had  consist- 
ently refused  to  take  up  arms  in  self-defense,  were  unjustly 
charged  by  American  frontiersmen  with  various  outrages  and 
massacres  that  had  enraged  and  terrified  the  border-settlements 
during  this  winter,  and  in  particular  with  the  horrible  murder 
of  the  family  of  William  Wallace.  About  ninety  men  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  David  Williamson  had  set  out  from 
the  settlements  on  the  Monongahela,  determined  to  wreak  ven- 
geance for  this  dastardly  crime. 

The  Moravian  Indians,  after  completing  their  delayed  har- 
vest, had  intended  to  begin  their  return  journey  to  Sandusky  on 
March  7,  having  succeeded  beyond  expectations  in  gather- 
ing their  belated  aftermath.    It  was  on  the  evening  before  this 


262 


A  HISTORY  OF 


appointed  day  that  the  Americans  arrived  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity. They  were  hospitably  entertained  without  a  suspicion 
of  mistrust  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  red-men,  who  seem  to 
have  been  wholly  ignorant  of  even  the  fact  of  the  massacres 
which  had  occasioned  the  expedition.  Indeed  the  Salem  Indians 
came  to  Gnadenhiitten  to  voluntarily  place  themselves  under 
the  protection  of  Colonel  Williamson,  whom  they  regarded  as 
their  deliverer  from  troubles  originating  in  Detroit.  In  cold 
blood,  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  ninety  Christian  and  six 
heathen  Indians,  who  were  visitors — none  of  them  striking  a 
blow  in  self-defense — fell  in  what  were  aptly  named  the 
"slaughter-houses,"'  meeting  their  faith  with  noble  resignation. 
Five  of  them  had  been  serving  acceptably  as  assistant  mission- 
aries. The  pious  exhortations  of  Abraham,  the  Mohican,  pre- 
pared his  companions  for  martyrdom.  Only  two  lads  escaped 
to  tell  the  tidings.  Providentially,  however,  the  full  completion 
of  the  atrocious  designs  of  the  miUtia  was  frustrated.  The 
Schonbrunn  Indians  received  warning  in  time  and  fled  to  the 
Sandusky. 

On  their  arrival  they  found  that  Zeisberger  and  his  com- 
panions had  again  been  summoned  to  Detroit  by  Major  De 
Peyster,  on  false  accusation  of  an  Indian  chief  whose  warlike 
schemes  they  had  formerly  thwarted.  The  new  charge  was  that 
of  aiding  the  Americans  by  corresponding  with  Pittsburgh.  As 
a  matter  of  course,  they  were  cleared.  The  sympathetic  com- 
mandant, however,  counseled  a  removal  from  debatable  terri- 
tory. His  advice  was  followed.  The  remnant  of  the  scattered 
converts  by  way  of  Lake  St.  Clair  sought  a  home  in  the  Chip- 
peway  country  in  Michigan,  and  founded  New  Gnadenhutten  in 
what  is  now  Macomb  County,  where  they  remained  four  years. 
Their  longing  for  the  old  homes  in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  and 
the  setting  apart  of  the  reservation  by  Congress  in  response  to 
the  petition  of  Ettwein  and  others  after  peace  had  been  re- 
stored, led  a  party  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  to  set  out 
from  the  Chippeway  land.  But  they  halted  at  the  Cuyahoga, 
for  it  seemed  madness  to  proceed  while  American  sentiment 
remained  intensely  hostile  to  the  Indian  race.  Here  Pilgerruh 
was  founded.  In  1787  New  Salem  on  the  Petquotting — the 
Huron  River  of  Ohio,  emptying  into  Lake  Erie — took  the  place 
of  this  temporary  refuge,  and  bloomed  into  speedy  prosperity. 
But  political  complications  and  the  disturbed  state  of  the  North- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


263 


west  Territory  in  1790  rendered  its  permanence  very  improb- 
able. Next  year  threats  of  a  repetition  of  the  massacre  came 
from  Indians  who  were  banded  against  the  United  States,  with 
the  overt  intention  of  thus  compelling  the  Christians  to  don 
the  war-paint  against  the  whites.  This  at  length  constrained 
Zeisberger  and  his  associates  to  remove  with  some  of  their  con- 
verts to  Canadian  territory.  Accordingly  in  April,  1792,  he 
proceeded  with  Senseman  and  Edwards  and  the  whole  congre- 
gation to  the  French  River — later  called  the  Thames — and  about 
eighty  miles  from  its  mouth  and  on  the  right  bank  founded  the 
Christian  Indian  village  of  Fairfield  amidst  the  Muncies  and 
Chippeways.  Thus  at  last  and  at  so  great  sacrifice  permanence 
was  secured. 


264 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


THE  MISSIONS  TO  THE  HEATHEN  IN  THE  PERIOD  PRECEDING  AND 
IMMEDIATELY  AFTER  THEIR  JUBILEE. 

Amid  all  changes  in  methods  of  administration  at  home  and 
in  spite  of  perplexities  in  the  financial  situation,  the  church  ever 
regarded  the  missions  amongst  the  heathen  as  its  chief  calling. 
DiHgence  and  persistence  characterized  their  prosecution. 
Hence  at  the  synod  of  1789  about  14,000  members  were  re- 
ported in  the  West  Indies  and  about  18,000  in  connection  with 
the  other  mission  fields. 

In  Greenland  the  fifties  had  been  an  era  of  steady  progress, 
though  cares  were  not  lacking.  The  winter  of  1752  to  1753 
was  terribly  cold.  Storms  raged,  famine  threatened,  and  an 
epidemic  carried  of¥  sixty  of  the  four  hundred  members, 
amongst  them  several  of  the  most  skillful  hunters  and  fisher- 
men. Nevertheless,  when  a  few  years  later  tidings  reached 
Greenland  of  the  destruction  of  Gnadenhiitten  on  the  Mahoni, 
the  Eskimos  testified  to  their  sympathy  by  offerings  of  skins 
and  blubber  for  those  who  had  been  rendered  homeless. 

About  ninety  miles  south  from  New  Herrnhut  Matthew 
Stach  in  1758  founded  a  second  station,  Lichtenfels,  on  an 
island  in  a  fjord  three  miles  from  the  open  sea.  In  a  few  years 
two  hundred  converted  Eskimos  formed  a  village  around  him, 
whilst  the  numbers  at  New  Herrnhut  rose  to  five  hundred  and 
forty.  It  was  a  time  of  powerful  awakening.  The  people 
trembled  with  emotion.  Some  hurried  away  in  haste  as  soon 
as  a  service  was  over,  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  shake  oflf  their  im- 
pressions and  ran  as  though  pursued;  but  found  no  peace  till 
self-surrender  had  been  made. 

In  1763  Frederick  Bohnisch  died,  the  first  of  the  missionaries 
in  Greenland  to  be  called  home.  Matthew  Stach,  who  had  pre- 
pared a  brief  Eskimo  grammar  and  lexicon,  retired  in  1771,  and 
spent  his  last  days  at  Bethabara  in  North  Carolina.  John 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


265 


Beck,  in  1770,  had  the  satisfaction  of  welcoming  two  of  his 
sons  at  New  Herrnhut,  and  cried  out,  '"Now  I  may  depart  in 
peace,  for  my  prayer  has  been  heard,  and  I  see  my  sons  here 
at  my  post."  They  had  come  out  with  Martin  Godfrey  Stern- 
berg, who  had  been  officially  commissioned  to  visit  Greenland, 
in  order  to  amend  regulations  that  were  the  outgrowth  of  the 
extravagancies  of  the  forties  at  home.  In  consequence  of  this 
visit  Christopher  Michael  Konigseer,  hitherto  warden  at  Gna- 
denberg,  was  sent  to  superintend  operations. 

In  1774  the  plan  of  establishing  a  third  station,  Lichtenau, 
on  the  island  of  Onartok,  about  four  hundred  miles  south  of 
New  Herrnhut,  was  carried  out  by  John  Sorensen.  It  was  he 
who  at  Marienborn,  in  1746,  when  Zinzendorf  asked  him,  "Will 
you  set  out  to-morrow  for  Greenland?"  replied  "Yes,  if  I  can 
get  from  the  shoemaker  a  pair  of  boots  he  is  making  for  me." 
Having  set  out  on  that  morrow,  he  had  been  in  service  in 
Greenland  ever  since.  Lichtenau  blossomed  out  with  speedy 
success.  By  the  winter  of  1775  to  1776  nearly  two  hundred 
persons  had  established  homes  adjacent  to  the  mission  house, 
and  in  a  few  years  the  baptized  numbered  one  hundred  and  five. 

Konigseer's  trained  mind  and  linguistic  abilities  were  now 
pressed  into  service  for  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
Beck  lending  him  the  aid  of  his  long  familiarity  with  the  Es- 
kimo tongue.  An  Eskimo  Hymn-book  and  a  Summary  of 
Christian  Doctrine  were  also  undertaken  and  were  printed  at 
Barby  in  1785.  Portions  of  the  New  Testament  and  of  the  Idea 
Fidei  Fratrnm,  and  a  grammar  and  dictionary  in  manuscript 
were  also  fruits  of  Konigseer's  industry. 

In  1776  certain  regulations  were  introduced  by  the  Danish 
trading  company,  which  proved  detrimental  to  the  mission 
under  existing  methods.  In  order  to  possibly  increase  the 
volume  of  trade  in  peltries,  the  Greenlanders  were  required  to 
scatter  along  the  coast,  and  were  not  permitted  to  dwell  in 
settlements  of  any  size.  This  dispersion  of  the  people  inevitably 
detracted  from  the  steady  and  continuous  influence  of  Chris- 
tian usages  and  institutions.  Nor  did  the  expedient  of  appoint- 
ing assistants,  to  minister  to  groups  of  natives  at  a  distance 
from  each  station,  compensate. 

Then  followed  another  fatal  epidemic.  From  April  to  August, 
1782,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  perished  in  New  Herrnhut 
alone,  amongst  whom  were  a  number  of  valued  native  assist- 


266 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ants.  Konigseer  himself  was  absent  at  this  time  in  Germany. 
After  his  return  he  was  spared  but  three  years  more,  dying  in 
1786,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  succeeded  in 
the  superintendence  by  Jasper  Brodersen,  well  quahfied  to  take 
up  the  philologian's  mantle.  Historical  portions  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  part  of  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  hymns  in 
the  Greenland  language  were  the  fruit  of  his  leisure.  But  in 
1792  he  was  compelled  by  a  shattered  constitution  to  return  to 
a  temperate  climate.  With  him  came  Sorensen,  after  forty- 
eight  years  in  the  Arctic. 

In  Labrador,  where  Samuel  Liebisch  took  general  charge  in 
1775,  although  Okak  was  established  in  1776  and  Hopedale  in 
1782,  progress  was  slow.  The  year  1782  was  rendered  mem- 
orable by  a  remarkable  providential  deliverance.  Liebisch  and 
William  Turner  set  out  from  Xain  for  Okak  on  March  11  in  a 
dog  sleigh.  Their  route  lay  across  the  frozen  sea.  Though 
the  distance  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  for  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  way  they  had  to  pass  over  very  deep  water, 
preferable  on  account  of  the  smoothness  of  the  ice,  under  the 
favorable  atmospheric  conditions  of  their  start  no  special 
anxiety  was  entertained.  But  in  the  afternoon  there  were  in- 
dications of  a  coming  storm.  The  heaving  of  the  restless 
ocean  could  be  felt  under  its  icy  covering.  By  evening  the 
wind  had  become  a  gale  that  whirled  the  snow  with  blinding 
violence.  The  undulations  of  the  vast  sheet  of  ice,  several 
yards  thick,  began  to  impede  progress.  Soon  the  ice  com- 
menced to  burst  with  the  sound  of  heavy  ordnance.  Only  with 
the  greatest  difficulty,  and  in  the  very  nick  of  time,  did  the  trav- 
elers make  the  shore.  Scarcely  had  they  efYected  a  landing, 
when  the  ice  for  miles  along  the  coast  broke  up  with  the  vio- 
lence of  the  storm  amid  terrific  noise.  The  Eskimo  com- 
panions of  the  missionaries  built  a  snow  house  on  the  beach. 
Thankful  for  this  refuge  in  the  piercing  cold,  they  had  but  set- 
tled down  to  rest,  when  Liebisch,  who  could  not  sleep  owing 
to  a  painfully  sore  throat  and  the  howling  of  the  storm  outside, 
perceived  that  salt  water  was  trickHng  through  the  roof. 
Hastily  digging  a  passage  through  the  side  of  the  house,  they 
were  hardly  at  a  safe  distance,  when  a  mighty  wave  carried 
away  their  abandoned  resting  place.  A  hole  cut  into  a  snow- 
bank was  their  sole  resource  till  morning.  Their  scanty  supply 
of  provisions  had  to  be  carefuly  eked  out  for  several  days  in  a 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


267 


new  snow-hut.  On  the  13th  the  storm  abated,  but  the  sea  was 
absolutely  clear  of  ice,  and  it  was  impossible  to  proceed  or  to 
return.  Not  until  twelve  oclock  on  the  night  of  the  17th  did 
they  at  last  succeed  in  once  more  making  their  starting-place, 
Nain,  grateful  for  the  marvellous  protection  of  God. 

At  Hopedale  the  outlook  was  at  first  exceedingly  discourag- 
ing. An  eagerness  to  be  tai:ght  had  been  displayed  by  the  na- 
tives ;  "but  in  their  words  and  demeanor  the  evil  influence  of 
intercourse  with  dissolute  European  traders  living  farther  south 
was  painfully  evident.  The  majority  seemed  to  care  more  for 
the  advantage  of  the  ship's  annual  visit  and  the  accommodation 
of  the  trade  than  for  the  blessing  of  Christian  training  and  in- 
struction. The  traders  put  forth  every  effort  to  keep  the  Eski- 
mos away  from  missionaries,  and  with  only  too  great  success. 
Articles  of  food  and  kixury,  and  especially  intoxicating  liquors, 
were  oftered  as  an  almost  irresistible  bribe,  and  once  entangled 
in  the  snares  of  these  men,  the  poor  Eskimos  were  made  use  of 
with  diaboHcal  skill  and  malice  to  tempt  their  countrymen  to 
their  destruction.  The  evil  influence  spread  to  all  three  sta- 
tions, and  considerable  numbers  from  each  made  their  way  to 
the  south.  A  spirit  of  indifference  and  levity  became  gener- 
ally diffused,  and  much  opposition  and  defiance  were  shown  to 
their  teachers.  While  boldly  demanding  in  a  season  of  scarcity 
to  be  supported  by  the  mission,  they  took  all  the  produce  of 
the  chase  to  the  southlanders,  so  that  the  ship  returned  with 
scarcely  any  cargo,  and  serious  apprehension  arose  as  to  the 
pecuniary  means  for  continuing  the  mission.  Exhortations  and 
remonstrances  of  the  missionaries  had  Httle  or  no  effect ;  an 
admirable  letter  from  the  pen  of  the  venerable  Bishop  Span- 
genberg,  which  touched  the  hearts  of  many,  only  sufficed  to 
check  them  a  while  in  their  evil  course.  The  missionaries  were 
by  no  means  inclined  to  lay  this  decline  wholly  to  the  charge 
of  the  natives ;  they  deplored  their  own  ignorance  and  inexperi- 
ence, and  blamed  themselves  for  many  mistakes  made  in  the 
treatment  of  individuals,  for  too  hastily  admitting  to  member- 
ship people  who  had  strong  religious  convictions  and  cherished 
many  good  desires  and  resolutions  in  regard  to  conversion,  but 
who  were  really  not  solidly  awakened.  'We  are  working  in  a 
kind  of  twilight.'  they  wrote.  'Many  a  time  were  we  made 
anxious  by  the  duplicity  and  relapses  into  sin  of  the  baptized, 
and  our  Saviour  knows  best  what  distress  and  perplexity  were 


268 


A  HISTORY  OF 


thereby  occasioned  to  us,  little  as  we  were  able,  with  all  our 
care  and  watchfulness,  to  prevent  what  we  so  greatly  de- 
plored.' "  Drachart  and  Haven  were  both  spared  the  experi- 
ence of  the  worst  of  this  time  of  trial.  The  former  died  at  Nain 
in  1778.  The  latter  retired  to  Europe  in  1784,  Liebisch  having 
preceded  him  by  one  year,  appointed  a  member  of  the  govern- 
ing board  of  the  church.  For  a  brief  period  Christian  Lister 
and  then  Christian  Lewis  Rose  served  as  superintendent. 

In  the  Danish  West  Indies,  on  the  other  hand,  a  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  converts  was  now  a  marked  feature. 
In  the  year  1771  Nisky  became  an  independent  station,  and 
Friedensberg  at  the  western  end  of  St.  Croix  was  similarly 
equipped.  Yet  the  great  naval  war  between  the  European 
powers  interrupted  connections  with  home,  and  all  intercourse 
with  English  lands  was  prohibited  in  1760.  Scarcity  of  pro- 
visions followed,  being  enhanced  by  protracted  drought.  In 
1765  losses  were  suffered  by  the  burning  of  a  mission  house  on 
St.  Croix  and  the  destruction  of  the  church  on  St.  John  by  a 
storm.  The  night  of  August  31,  1772,  became  memorable  for 
years  through  the  ravages  of  a  hurricane  which  caused  much 
damage  on  all  three  islands,  but  especially  on  St.  Croix.  Frien- 
densberg  mission  house  suffered  severely,  and  the  entire  station 
of  Friedensthal  was  obliterated,  the  missionaries  and  their  fam- 
ilies barely  saving  their  lives  by  taking  refuge  in  cellars.  Gen- 
eral scarcity,  famine,  sickness  and  wide-spread  mortality  en- 
sued. But  the  blessings  of  adversity  became  manifest  in  the 
turning  of  hearts  to  the  things  which  can  not  be  shaken.  When 
the  Friedensthal  church  was  rebuilt  its  auditories  numbered  a 
thousand,  and  baptisms  added  to  the  number  of  believers  month 
by  month.  The  presentation  of  land  on  St.  John  by  Commandant 
Von  Malleville  of  St.  Thomas  made  possible  the  founding  of 
Emmaus,  as  a  companion  station  to  Bethany  in  1782.  During 
the  fifty  years  of  the  mission  in  the  Danish  West  Indies,  8,833 
adults  and  2,974  children  had  been  baptized.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  members  of  missionary  famiUes  had  entered  into 
rest,  including  children. 

In  1784  valuable  service  was  rendered  the  mission  by  an 
official  visit  on  the  part  of  John  Loretz.  He  promoted  the  de- 
velopment of  systematic  division  of  spiritual  labor  and  the 
establishment  of  a  local  conference  of  supervision.  Martin 
Mack  had  died  on  June  9,  having  barely  overlived  the  arrival 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


269 


of  his  successor,  Schaukirch  from  America.  Native  assistants 
were  now  more  widely  utilized,  especially  for  the  instruction  of 
candidates  and  for  the  administration  of  discipline.  Prominent 
amongst  these  Cornelius,  a  freed-man,  gifted  with  unusual  na- 
tive ability,  and  deeply  devout,  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-four,  and  served  the  mission  most  acceptably  for  forty- 
seven  years.  "He  spoke  Danish,  Dutch,  English  and  German, 
enjoyed  universal  respect  among  all  ranks,  and  was  so  diligent 
and  successful  in  his  trade  as  a  mason  that  he  had  been  able  to 
purchase  the  freedom  of  himself  and  his  family.  His  unwearied 
faithfulness  in  visiting  day  and  night  the  negroes  on  the  scat- 
tered plantations  led  great  numbers  of  the  poor  slaves  to  grate- 
fully regard  him  as  their  spiritual  father,  while  his  clear  and 
persuasive  preaching  attracted  men  of  rank  and  education,  who 
heard  him  with  pleasure  and  profit." 

The  translation  of  portions  of  Scriptvire  and  of  the  Harmony 
of  the  Fovir  Evangelists  and  of  the  Summary  of  Christian  Doc- 
trine into  Negro-English  and  the  printing  of  a  Negro-English 
Hymn-book  also  materially  facilitated  the  work  and  provided 
for  its  permanence. 

In  the  English  islands  the  feature  of  periodicity  prevailed, 
eras  of  advance  and  retrogression  alternating. 

In  Antigua,  Isles  died  at  his  post  in  1764,  having  barely  ac- 
complished the  organization  of  the  native  church.  The  small 
congregation  was  reduced  to  sore  straights  by  the  time  his  suc- 
cessor, Peter  Brown,  arrived  from  Pennsylvania,  in  1769,  to 
become  the  second  founder  of  this  mission.  A  native  of  the 
Palatinate,  he  had  served  chiefly  as  a  teacher  in  America,  but 
ever  betrayed  his  German  birth  in  his  speech.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  in  virtue  of  the  graces  of  rhetoric  that  his  ministry 
became  distinguished  for  signal  fruitfulness.  Devoted  fidelity 
and  unconquerable  love  were  his  best  gifts.  Visiting  the  de- 
spised blacks  in  their  huts  and  taking  advantage  of  the  mid-day 
rest  in  the  fields,  by  his  loving  sympathy  he  showed  himself  a 
brother  or  a  father.  Benjamin  Brookshaw  from  Fulneck,  in 
England,  who  joined  him  in  1771,  proved  a  most  acceptable 
coadjutor,  when  former  assistants  had  to  leave  on  account  of 
the  failure  of  their  health.  But  he  was  granted  less  than  two 
years  of  activity ;  and  when  Brown's  wife  also  died,  soon  after, 
the  outlook  was  very  trying.  Then  Fulneck  furnished  another 
colleague,  John  Aleder,  a  Livonian  by  birth.    Native  assistants 


270 


A  HISTORY  OF 


were  judiciously  employed.  Ground  for  a  second  station  was 
purchased  in  1774  at  Bailyhill,  near  the  town  of  Falmouth  (ex- 
changed in  1782  for  Gracehill,  as  more  convenient).  Samuel 
Watson,  a  man  of  eminent  gifts,  became  Brown's  colleague  in 
1776.  "In  1791  Brown  had  to  retire  from  the  scene  of  his 
twenty  years'  faithful,  humble,  but  apostolic  service,  thoroughly 
worn  out  in  it ;  and  in  the  following  year  Watson  died,  in  his 
forty-ninth  year,  and  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  two  thousand 
persons  of  all  classes  and  colors.  The  number  in  charge  of  the 
Brethren  had  grown  between  the  years  1769  and  1792  from  14 
to  7,400;  of  these  the  majority  were  baptized." 

One  of  the  crosses  inevitably  to  be  endured  so  long  as  slavery 
lasted,  was  the  removal  of  converts  to  islands  devoid  of  gospel 
privileges.  The  more  ready,  therefore,  were  the  Brethren  to 
respond,  when  John  Gardiner,  a  prominent  solicitor  and  planter 
in  the  neighboring  island  of  St.  Kitts,  requested  missionaries 
for  the  instruction  of  his  slaves.  In  1777  Gottwald  and  Birkby 
were  sent.  Mr.  Gardiner's  kind  offices  secured  for  them  the 
countenance  and  assistance  of  the  governor.  Preaching  was 
commenced  at  Basseterre  and  at  Palmetto  Point,  the  estate  of 
their  earliest  benefactor,  and  when  Gottwald's  failing  health 
compelled  retirement  in  1787,  the  congregation  numbered 
about  one  hundred  persons.  Schneller  and  Reichel,  who  were 
next  associated,  carried  the  work  forward  with  even  greater 
rapidity.  The  former  alone  statedly  visited  about  fifty  planta- 
tions, and  by  the  close  of  the  century  the  Moravian  negroes 
numbered  more  than  two  thousand.  Moravians  and  Metho- 
dists, in  hearty  fellowship,  had  effected  a  change  in  the  character 
of  the  slave  population. 

The  year  1765  witnessed  an  attempt  in  Barbadoes,  the  pio- 
neers being  John  Wood  and  Andrew  Rittmansberger ;  but  the 
death  of  the  latter  within  a  month  after  landing  utterly  dis- 
heartened the  former.  Brookshaw's  eflfort  in  1767  was  more 
propitious.  All  alone  he  manfully  supported  himself  by  handi- 
craft in  apostolic  fashion,  and  staunchly  held  his  ground  for 
some  months  till  joined  by  Bennet.  Bennet  died  in  1772,  and 
only  one  missionary  was  left,  Brookshaw  having  been  trans- 
ferred to  Antigua.  Then  sore  trial  was  occasioned  by  a  terrific 
hurricane  on  October  10,  1780,  known  for  a  hundred  years  as 
"the  great  storm."  Scarcely  a  house  was  left  standing.  The 
mission  property  was  utterly  destroyed.    Several  thousand  per- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


271 


sons  perished.  Semi-famine  followed.  Masterless  slaves  took 
to  the  woods.  Outlaws  threatened  Hfe  and  possessions.  When 
John  Montgomery,  the  father  of  the  poet,  arrived  in  1784,  he 
found  only  fourteen  communicants.  Though  his  able  minis- 
trations for  a  time  infused  new  hope,  they  were  cut  off  by  death 
in  1791,  after  a  brief  intermission  of  labor  caused  by  his  attempt 
to  inaugurate  a  mission  in  Tobago. 

The  incentive  to  this  undertaking,  in  1787,  had  come  from  a 
planter  named  Hamilton,  who  had  known  the  Brethren  in  Lon- 
don and  Barbadoes.  "Count  Dillon,  the  French  governor  at 
this  time,  had  learnt  to  value  the  missionary  labors  of  the 
Brethren  when  holding  a  similar  position  in  St.  Kitts,  and  at 
once  gave  full  approval  of  the  effort,  welcoming  Montgomery 
with  much  kindness.  In  the  upper  circle  of  society,  too,  a 
favorable  view  was  taken  of  the  projected  mission.  Meetings 
were  held,  and  the  negroes  joyously  welcomed  the  gospel- 
message.  Montgomery  returned  to  Barbadoes  with  a  report 
which  was  very  hopeful  for  good  results  for  a  missionary  effort 
in  Tobago.  But  men  were  so  scarce,  and  the  requirements  of 
the  rapidly  growing  mission  elsewhere  so  multiplied  that  it  was 
not  till  1790  that  the  first  missionary  could  be  sent  in  the  per- 
son of  Montgomery.  His  work  was  begun  with  great  vigor, 
but  was  sadly  hindered  by  a  formidable  outbreak  of  soldiers  and 
people  on  receipt  of  the  tidings  of  the  French  Revolution,  by 
a  disastrous  hurricane  a  month  or  two  later,  and  the  failing 
health  of  his  wife,  which  ended  in  her  happy  departure  before 
the  year  closed.  In  March  of  the  following  year  Montgomery 
had  to  return  to  Barbadoes,  with  his  health  completely  shattered, 
and  there  in  the  month  of  July  his  brief  missionary  career  was 
terminated  by  his  death.  For  eight  years  no  attempt  was  made 
to  renew  the  mission,  not  entirely  on  account  of  the  great  drain 
on  all  the  available  resources  of  the  church  in  other  fields  of 
labor,  but  partly  on  account  of  the  uncertain  political  circum- 
stances of  the  land." 

In  Jamaica,  the  gift  of  the  Carmel  estate  proved  a  Greek 
present.  It  represented  a  policy,  to  say  the  least,  as  erroneous 
as  the  former  attempt  to  colonize  in  St.  Croix.  This  was  still  the 
era  of  experiment  in  missions,  and  the  privilege  of  being  taught 
by  the  blunders  of  others  was  denied  the  Brethren.  Yet  the 
era  of  decline  which  followed  the  return  of  Caries  to  Ireland 
was  made  good  by  the  advance  during  Frederick  Schlegel's  all 


272 


A  HISTORY  OF 


too  brief  service  of  six  years,  terminated  by  his  death  in  1770. 
Next  came  a  period  of  prolonged  fruitlessness.  Discouraging 
relapses  into  paganism  occurred.  The  superstition  of  the  Afri- 
cans appeared  to  be  well-nigh  ineradicable.  Not  that  men  of 
zeal  and  ability  were  lacking.  Samuel  Church,  Nathaniel 
Brown,  Joseph  Jackson  and  Thomas  ElHs  were  gifted  and 
labored  indefatigably.  But  the  system  which  identified  them 
with  the  management  of  an  estate  worked  by  slave-labor  was 
a  dead  weight  about  their  necks.  Besides  the  malarial  influ- 
ences of  Carmel  compelled  too  frequent  changes  in  personnel. 
In  seventy  years  it  demanded  twenty-four  missionary  graves, 
and  twenty  additional  deaths  elsewhere  completed  the  fatal  lists. 
The  wonder  is,  that  men  like  Christian  Lister,  after  a  transfer 
from  the  totally  different  climate  of  Labrador,  could  hold  out 
for  nearly  fourteen  years  in  the  face  of  every  distress.  By  the 
year  1804  the  baptisms  in  Jamaica  numbered  only  938. 

At  the  time  of  Schumann's  death,  the  brimming  marsh-land 
of  Surinam  was  occupied  by  the  Brethren  at  four  points — Pil- 
gerhut  on  the  Berbice,  Ephraim  on  the  Corentyne,  Sharon  on  the 
Saraniacca  and  Paramaribo,  the  capital.  The  last,  slow  in  as- 
suming its  proportions,  was  to  arrive  at  highest  importance, 
while  the  Indian  mission  dwindled  away. 

The  Bush  Negroes,  runaway  slaves  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
remote  swampy  forests  and  whose  liberty  was  conceded  by  gov- 
ernment in  1764  after  the  failure  of  a  resort  to  force,  regarded 
the  Indian  tribes  with  fixed  animosity.  When  the  blacks  of 
Copename  in  1761  made  a  raid  against  the  villages  on  the  Sara- 
macca,  the  people  from  Sharon  scattered  in  flight.  Next  year 
the  Negroes  of  Berbice  rose  in  arms,  and  in  1763  caused  the 
flight  of  the  missionaries  and  their  converts  from  Pilgerhut. 
Schumann's  translations  and  other  Hnguistic  works  perished  in 
the  ashes  of  the  station.  The  same  fate  overtook  Ephraim. 
The  Indian  mission  threatened  to  wholly  disappear  in  the  flames 
of  the  servile  rebellion.  With  the  restoration  of  peace  in  1764 
Sharon  was  however  reoccupied,  and  Hope  arose  in  place  of 
Ephraim.  But  Sharon  was  again  abandoned  in  1779.  owing 
to  repeated  alarms  from  the  turbulence  of  the  Bush-Negroes, 
oft-recurring  fevers,  and  the  failure  of  the  cassava  plantations, 
the  chief  source  of  food.  Nor  did  the  pious  wishes  enshrined  in 
the  name  of  the  companion  station  long  enjoy  fruition,  although 
in  1783  its  membership  numbered  186.    The  nomadic  tendency 


THE  MOILWIAN  CHURCH. 


of  the  Indians,  with  their  proneness  to  intoxication,  in  addition 
to  pestilence  and  war,  perpetually  interposed  obstacles,  though 
signal  instances  of  the  power  of  grace  were  not  lacking. 

jNIeantime  the  mission  amongst  the  black  population  became 
more  important.  Coincident  with  the  establishment  of  peace, 
the  colonial  authorities  asked  that  missionaries  be  sent  to  the 
camps  of  the  Bush-Negroes.  Rudolph  Stoll  and  Thomas  Jones, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  aged  Daehne,  penetrated  into  the  in- 
terior, where  the  atmosphere  is  that  of  "a  hothouse  and  vapor- 
bath  combined."  Early  in  1766  they  reached  Senthea  Creek, 
after  a  most  toilsome  and  dangerous  journey  by  boat.  Here  a 
chief  named  Abini,  vaguely  feeling  that  they  were  sent  by  a 
divine  power,  rendered  what  poor  aid  he  could.  Their  home 
was  a  wretched  hut.  Food  was  scanty.  The  deadly  climate 
established  its  claims.  In  a  few  weeks  Jones  succumbed  to  fever. 
Daehne  returned  to  his  Indians,  but  Stoll  faithfully  kept  his  soli- 
tary post.  Two  years  later  Abini,  his  protector,  fell  in  war  with 
a  neighboring  tribe.  His  son,  Arabi,  endeavored  to  maintain 
the  friendly  relations ;  but  deep-seated  hostility  gleamed  forth, 
incited  by  his  grandmother,  a  bigoted  adherent  of  the  old  sup- 
erstitions. In  the  face  of  undisguised  hate,  Stoll  opened  a 
school  with  a  handful  of  children,  one  of  whom,  Grego,  in  adult 
life  became  a  very  serviceable  assistant  of  the  missionaries.  In 
1769  Christopher  Kcrsten  and  his  wife  came  from  Paramaribo 
to  second  Stoll's  eftorts.  Arabi  was  baptized  on  January  6,  1771, 
and  shot  the  alligator  worshiped  by  his  people.  Slowly  a  con- 
gregation was  gathered,  and  in  1773  a  settlement  was  formed  at 
Bambey,  some  miles  nearer  the  city,  with  again  a  removal  in 
1786.  Kersten  was  called  away  to  become  superintendent  of  the 
entire  field,  and  when  Stoll  brought  his  bride  to  the  lonely 
village  in  the  bush,  she  died  from  fever  in  a  few  months.  He 
himself  soon  followed  her  to  the  grave,  having  spent  eleven 
years  of  heroic  eiYort  in  the  tangled  pestilential  forests.  His 
memory  is  yet  cherished  by  the  blacks  who  lovingly  revere 
"Brother  Rudolph."  Missionary  after  m.issionary  endeavored 
to  occupy  the  post ;  but  health  invariably  gave  way.  No 
European  could  long  endure  life  in  the  tropical  swamps.  Arabi 
remained  faithful ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  century  New  Bam- 
bey could  not  count  fifty  converts. 

In  Paramaribo  it  was  otherwise.  Christian  Cupido,  the  first 
convert,  was  won  in  1776.  Within  one  month  of  his  baptism 
19 


274 


A  HISTORY  OF 


seven  other  baptisms  {ollowed.  A  church  was  built  two  years 
later.  Though  some  planters  were  bitterly  hostile,  the  governor 
and  other  people  of  influence  countenanced  the  undertaking. 
In  1785  the  governm-ent  offered  the  mission  a  piece  of  land 
conveniently  situated  for  visits  to  several  important  estates 
and  Sommelsdyk  was  established.  When  Kersten  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Samuel  Wagner,  in  1789,  the  Paramaribo  congrega- 
tion numbered  about  250  souls.  If  the  day  of  great  things  had 
not  yet  dawned,  foundations  had  been  successfully  laid,  and  the 
indications  of  a  hopeful  future  were  here.  Moreover  a  pledge 
for  the  stability  of  the  mission  was  given  in  1793  by  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Zendinggcnootschap  dcr  Brocdcrgcmccntc  in  the  congre- 
gation at  Zeist  in  Holland,  which  was  to  make  the  support  of 
the  Brethren's  missions  in  Dutch  colonies  its  special  object. 

Less  happy  were  the  fortunes  of  the  mission  in  the  East 
Indies.  Halle  regarded  with  disfavor  the  presence  of  mission- 
aries from  Herrnhut  in  close  proximity  to  its  own  heralds. 
Using  their  influence  at  Copenhagen,  the  Hallensian  authori- 
ties insisted  that  the  Brethren  must  occupy  the  Nicobar  Islands, 
as  originally  designed.  Correspondence  between  the  governing 
board  of  the  church  and  the  Danish  government,  with  visits 
to  the  Danish  capital,  occupied  several  j'ears.  At  length,  in 
1768,  Denmark  established  a  military  and  trading  post  on  the 
island  of  Nancawery,  and  six  Brethren  were  sent  thither.  Two 
died  soon  after  their  arrival.  Next  year  more  colonists  fol- 
lowed. But  in  a  few  years  the  entire  colonial  project  came  to 
nothing  from  the  terrible  mortality.  Yet  the  four  Brethren 
manfully  remained,  without  any  regular  means  of  correspond- 
ence with  Tranquebar,  unable  to  have  satisfactory  intercourse 
with  the  natives  owing  to  the  barrier  of  the  language,  often  in 
great  straits  on  account  of  the  unproductiveness  of  the  soil,  and 
frequently  in  ill  health.  Nevertheless  nothing  else  than  per- 
manent occupation  of  the  post  was  contemplated.  Breaches  in 
the  ranks  were  filled  from  Tranquebar.  But  although  the  first 
convert,  Kutti,  was  baptized  on  January  6,  1774.  on  the  whole 
the  station  remained  a  fruitless  one,  and  the  drain  on  men 
and  means  was  excessive.  Tranquebar  also  proved  a  place 
most  costly  in  precious  lives.  The  relations  with  the  Hallensian 
missionaries  improved,  but  the  rewards  of  missionary  en- 
deavor were  scanty.  With  the  success  of  Schwarz  in  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  an  invitation  came  to  the  Brethren  from  the  Dan- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ish  Company  to  initiate  missionary  labors  at  Serampore  in  Ben- 
gal. The  call  was  welcomed,  and  John  Grasmann  was  sent 
thither  in  1777.  Seven  years  later,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  Mr. 
Livius  in  England,  James  La  Trobe,  a  cousin  of  Benjamin,  was 
dispatched  to  Patna. 

The  various  discouraging  features  of  the  mission  now  de- 
termined the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  to  undertake  a 
thorough  investigation  of  its  condition  and  prospects.  Bishop 
John  Frederick  Reichel  was  charged  with  this  important  duty. 
With  him  voyaged  Christian  Lewis  Schumann  and  others  who 
were  to  remain  in  the  event  of  the  continuance  of  the  undertak- 
ing. For  five  months,  June  to  October,  1786,  Reichel 
thoroughly  looked  into  the  state  of  affairs  and  had  frequent  con- 
ferences with  the  missionaries,  the  two  Brethren  from  Bengal 
being  present.  It  was  decided  to  abandon  all  the  outposts. 
This  took  effect  for  Patna  at  once,  for  the  Nicobar  Islands  and 
Serampore  later,  1 788-1 791.  At  Tranquebar  changes  were 
made,  in  the  hope  of  a  more  successful  prosecution  of  the  work. 
La  Trobe  returned  with  Reichel,  and  their  stay  at  Capetown 
in  January  and  February,  1787,  led  up  to  the  renewal  of  the  mis- 
sion in  Cape  Colony,  abandoned  fifty  years  ago.  Finally  in 
1795,  after  long  hesitation,  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  deter- 
mined upon  complete  withdrawal  from  the  East  Indies.  Forty 
out  of  the  seventy  who  were  sent  thither  by  the  church  had 
found  their  graves  at  the  scene  of  their  unsuccessful  endeavors. 


2/6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


THE  RENEWAL  OF  THE  MISSION  IN  CAPE  COLONY,  I792. 

Schmidt's  attempt  to  evangelize  the  Hottentots  never  alto- 
gether passed  out  of  the  scope  of  the  church's  plans.  In  1748 
a  member  of  the  Herrnhaag  congregation  named  John  Martin 
Schwalber,  who  had  formerly  served  for  five  years  as  an  official 
of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  at  the  Cape,  volunteered  to 
go  in  his  place,  at  his  own  costs,  and  was  permitted.  He  ap- 
parently reached  Baviaanskloof  in  safety,  and  died  there  during 
an  epidemic  prior  to  1756.  The  little  congregation  held  together 
for  some  time,  but  after  the  death  of  Africo  and  Willem,  about 
1756,  the  rest  scattered,  and  the  wilderness  returned  where 
once  fields  and  gardens  bloomed. 

When  on  June  16,  1789,  in  connection  with  his  report  con- 
cerning the  East  Indian  mission  Bishop  Reichel  communicated 
to  the  synod  the  results  of  his  observations  in  Cape  Colony,  and 
held  out  hopes  of  the  timeliness  of  an  attempt  to  renew  the  mis- 
sion there,  keen  interest  was  aroused.  Circumstances  were 
propitious.  Governor  Van  der  Graff  was  understood  to  be 
favorably  disposed.  The  purposes  and  character  of  the  church 
were  better  known.  The  prejudices  of  former  days  had  been 
dissipated.  Ranzau  and  Rothe,  the  Provincial  Helpers  in  Hol- 
land, together  with  Reichel  were  therefore  instructed  to  open 
negotiations  with  the  Directors  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany to  secure  permission  for  the  resumption  of  missionary 
operations.  A  successful  issue  was  delayed  only  by  the  revolu- 
tionary movements  in  Holland. 

In  the  summer  of  1792  Henry  Marsveld  of  Gouda  in  Holland, 
Daniel  Schwinn  of  Erbach  in  the  Odenwald  and  John  Christian 
Kiihnel  of  Herrnhut  were  dispatched  to  Africa.  Trained  me- 
chanics, and  aged  respectively  47,  42  and  30  years — unmarried — 
they  were  men  admirably  adapted  for  pioneer  work,  qualified 
to  win  the  Hottentots  for  civilization  as  well  as  for  Christian 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


277 


life.  Ordained  at  Herrnhut,  they  left  the  Texel  in  the  Little 
Dove — "Z'Diiyfje" — on  July  il  and  reached  Cape  Town  on 
November  21.  Cheered  by  the  manifestation  of  considerable 
sympathy,  though  their  undertaking  was  scouted  in  other  quar- 
ters, on  December  20  they  left  for  the  interior  in  a  twelve-ox 
wagon  in  company  with  "Baas"  Martin  Teunessen,  the  "inspec- 
tor" of  the  district  around  Baviaanskloof.  Here  the  govern- 
ment had  donated  as  the  site  for  the  new  mission  the  spot  hal- 
lowed by  the  memories  of  Schmidt's  in-gatherings.  The  place 
itself  was  first  visited  on  Christmas  Eve,  the  three  new-comers 
being  meanwhile  the  guests  of  the  "inspector,"  who  had  re- 
ceived instructions  to  protect  them  and  their  work  and  to  ren- 
der them  all  reasonable  assistance.  Remains  of  Schmidt's 
house,  traces  of  his  garden,  and  especially  a  large  pear-tree  be- 
neath whose  shade  services  were  now  temporarily  held,  served 
as  reminders  that  the  former  attempt  had  not  been  given  up 
for  lack  of  fruitfulness.  The  tenacious  hold  of  the  faith  which 
Schmidt  had  engrafted  was  also  disclosed  by  the  joy  of  one  of 
his  converts,  Magdalene,  an  old  woman  of  eighty,  who  now 
came  forward  with  Anna-like  rejoicings  at  the  answer  to  her 
prayers,  and  produced  her  Dutch  Bible  carefully  wrapped  in  a 
sheep-skin,  whilst  she  gave  proofs  that  its  passages  were  not 
wholly  unfamiliar  to  her. 

In  accordance  with  the  instructions  of  his  superiors,  Teunes- 
sen rendered  welcome  aid.  When  certain  of  the  natives  be- 
came suspicious  that  the  kindness  of  the  missionaries  was  to  be 
explained  on  the  ground  of  ulterior  designs,  possibly  a 
scheme  to  kidnap  them  for  slavery  in  Holland,  he  dispelled 
these  fears,  saying:  "Government  has  sent  these  men  to  in- 
struct you,  and  if  you  are  willing  to  learn,  to  teach  you  what 
is  good,  and  baptize  you.  Then  you  will  be  Christians  as  well 
as  the  farmers,  and  they  dare  not  hurt  you.  The  Governor 
loves  you,  and  has  therefore  sent  teachers  to  you,  charging  me 
to  bring  them  to  you.  If  they  were  not  good  men  he  would 
not  have  recommended  them  to  me ;  nor  would  I  have  brought 
them  to  you."  In  March  a  school  was  commenced  with  twenty- 
five  adults  and  children.  Practical  instruction  in  the  herding 
of  cattle,  agriculture  and  gardening  supplemented  lessons  from 
the  books. 

But  storm-clouds  gathered.  The  policy  introduced  by  Hol- 
land in  its  deaUngs  with  the  colony  had  been  wholly  unworthy 


278 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  an  enlightened  Protestant  state  possessed  of  commercial 
experience.  Partly  by  contracts  and  partly  by  force,  the  Hot- 
tentot natives  had  been  gradually  deprived  of  their  lands  and 
pushed  into  the  interior.  Many  had  been  enslaved.  The  Boers 
had  been  narrowed  down  in  agricultural  operations  by  gov- 
ernmental restriction  of  the  crops  which  they  were  permitted 
to  grow,  by  heavy  taxation  and  the  discouragement  of  manu- 
factures. All  this  was  engendering  an  vigly  spirit  amongst 
them.  On  the  one  hand  they  ached  for  independence,  and  abor- 
tive insurrections  broke  out ;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  natives 
were  made  to  feel  that  the  natural  kindliness  of  the  Dutch  heart 
was  departing.  A  group  of  colonists  professed  tenets  which 
included  a  determination  to  hold  as  slaves  all  Hottentots  or 
Bushmen  who  could  be  captured,  and  to  compel  all  natives  born 
on  an  estate  to  work  without  pay  until  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
Scanty  scruples  meanwhile  existed  against  defrauding  or  de- 
bauching them.  These  Boers  beheld  with  alarm  the  improve- 
ment which  was  noticeable  in  the  people  whom  the  Moravian 
missionaries  had  taken  in  charge.  Resisting  the  solicitations 
of  drink,  these  Hottentots  began  to  insist  on  the  rights  of  intel- 
ligent manhood.  They  were  enjoying  school  privileges,  whilst 
the  colonists  had  none.  Their  labor  would  become  too  costly. 
Even  Teunessen  for  a  time  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  prejudiced 
opposition.  "The  Moravians  must  withdraw  to  the  Bush-coun- 
try"— such  was  the  demand.  Some  possibly  cast  a  longing 
eye  on  the  improvements  at  Baviaanskloof.  Nor  could  the  colo- 
nial government  render  the  protection  which  it  might  have  fur- 
nished under  ordinary  circumstances,  for  it  was  beginning  to 
cope  with  open  rebellion,  the  echo  of  the  excitement  caused  in 
Holland  by  tiie  revolution  in  France. 

The  story  of  the  bell,  narrated  graphically  in  Schneider's  ac- 
count of  the  founding  of  the  mission,  furnishes  an  illustration 
of  the  shameless  opposition  now  experienced.  In  April,  1793, 
clever  Kiihnel  fashioned  a  rude  makeshift,  a  home-made  article 
that  could  be  designated  a  bell  only  by  a  stretch  of  courtesy. 
It  served,  indeed,  to  proclaim  the  hour  of  worship  by  giving 
out  a  sound  never  heard  before.  It  also  served  to  stimulate 
the  benefactions  of  friends  in  Cape  Town,  by  moving  them  to 
pity;  so  that  in  October  an  actual  bell  was  presented,  which 
had  previously  done  service  on  a  farm.  Great  rejoicing  greeted 
its  advent  at  Baviaanskloof.    So  shapely  a  thing  with  so  fine  a 


THE  MOK.WIAN  CHURCH. 


tone  was  a  complete  novelty  to  the  Hottentot  population. 
Their  joy  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  missionaries  culminated 
when  a  few  days  later  it  was  elevated  on  a  suitable  campanile 
of  timber,  where  it  could  take  pleasure  in  waking  the  echoes 
of  the  neighboring  hills.  But  alas !  the  harmless  proclaimer  of 
the  hours  of  religious  devotion  soon  became  the  intolerable  dis- 
turber of  the  peace  i  The  clergyman  of  Stellenbosch  lodged  a 
complaint  with  the  government  on  the  ground  that  this  imper- 
tinent bell  annoyed  him  and  was  an  of¥ense  to  his  conscience. 
Its  tones  broke  in  upon  his  peace.  Yet  he  lived  two  days'  jour- 
ney distant !  His  weighty  representations  moved  government 
to  require  Teunessen  to  place  an  injunction  upon  the  pes- 
tiferous bell.  So  the  instrument  which  had  been  judged  wholly 
harmless  when  it  was  employed  to  give  notice  of  the  hours  of 
labor  and  of  refreshment  and  rest,  as  was  customary  on  many 
of  the  farms,  dare  no  longer  sovmd;  for  its  invitation  to  wor- 
ship— that  was  quite  another  thing.  The  justification  of  this  in- 
junction moreover  sheds  a  curious  light  upon  the  prevalent  con- 
ception of  Christian  comity.  The  Lutheran  Church  in  Cape 
Town  was  not  permitted  to  enjoy  the  use  of  a  bell;  still  less 
therefore  might  the  mission  in  Baviaanskloof.  So  the  poor  bell 
hung  its  silenced  head  in  shame  for  its  own  uselessness,  until 
an  ofificial  named  Brand  visited  the  settlement  in  December. 
To  him  the  missionaries  made  earnest  representations  and  pic- 
tured the  necessity  of  a  bell  for  the  proper  conduct  of  their  work. 
He  perceived  the  reasonableness  of  the  plea  and  promised  help. 
Na}^  he  even  ventured  to  do  more  than  this.  Temporarily  the 
ringing  might  be  sanctioned.  On  his  return  to  the  capital  he 
laid  the  matter  in  all  form  before  the  governor  and  before  a 
commissioner  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  who  happened 
to  be  there.  At  last  in  the  latter  part  of  December  a  document 
officially  signed  and  sealed  reached  Teunessen,  removing  the 
injunction  from  the  bell.  Yet  this  was  not  the  end  of  the  af¥air. 
Next  month  when  Marsveld  visited  the  city,  he  was  amazed  to 
receive  a  new  inhibition,  and  at  that  from  the  lips  of  the  ofificial 
whose  friendly  representations  had  achieved  so  much.  Again 
the  injunction  was  justified  by  the  alleged  annoyance  given  by 
the  penetrating  tones  of  this  wonderful  bell,  so  disturbing  to 
the  folk  of  Stellenbosch,  two  days'  journey  away !  True,  it  was 
added  that  quite  too  many  complaints  had  been  heard  in  refer- 
ence to  the  work  of  the  Brethren.    All  the  representations  of 


28o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  missionary  were  to  no  purpose.  The  poor  bell  remained 
silent  until  March  19,  1798,  when  English  rule  brought  about 
a  rescript  in  favor  of  the  patient  servant  of  the  native  congrega- 
tion. No  wonder  the  thankful  Hottentots  went  to  the  sea- 
shore, a  day  and  a  half  distant  by  wagon,  and  brought  thence 
three  loads  of  shell-fish,  that  lime  might  be  burnt,  to  build  a 
belfry  of  stone,  whence  the  victorious  bell  might  henceforth 
peal  forth  freely. 

Meanwhile  opposition  manifested  itself  in  ways  not  so  harm- 
less. When  on  September  30,  1794,  Schwinn  in  a  personal  in- 
terview with  the  governor  sought  permission  for  the  erection 
of  a  church,  the  rude  reply  was,  "Not  so  much  as  a  pig-sty  shall 
be  built.  Everything  must  remain  as  it  is."  Teunessen  actu- 
ally forbade  the  building  of  a  stall  for  goats !  Commissioners 
came  from  Cape  Town  and  ordered  the  Hottentots  to  remove 
their  herds  from  the  neighborhood.  Only  a  few  cattle  might 
be  retained  for  use  as  beef.  Henceforth  every  native  must  first 
obtain  written  permission  from  a  Boer,  prior  to  his  settling  at 
Baviaanskloof.  Then  a  paper  was  circulated  amongst  the 
Nationalists,  with  three  thousand  signatures.  Its  main  points 
were  the  expulsion  of  the  missionaries,  the  practical  enslave- 
ment of  the  Hottentots,  and  the  complete  enslavement  of  the 
Bushmen.  Next  it  was  reported  that  a  certain  semi-bandit 
named  Pisani  with  a  lawless  company  was  on  his  way  to  destroy 
the  mission.  These  fellows  the  Nationalists  themselves,  how- 
ever, arrested  and  threw  into  the  citadel  at  Cape  Town.  At 
last  the  climax  was  reached  in  August,  1795,  when  the  British 
fleet,  sent  to  support  the  authority  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
took  possession  of  Cape  Colony  in  his  name. 

Marsveld  waited  upon  the  British  authorities.  Generals 
Clarke  and  Craig,  and  received  assurance  of  protection.  Let 
him  and  his  Brethren  continue  to  prosecute  their  benevolent 
work.  In  February,  1796,  the  destruction  of  the  mission  at  one 
blow  was  plotted  by  its  enemies.  But  due  notice  of  the  danger 
having  been  given  by  Teunessen,  the  malicious  scheme  came  to 
naught.  The  village  about  the  mission  now  grew  apace.  A 
church  was  built.  Five  hundred  inhabitants  centered  around  it. 
A  vineyard  of  two  thousand  vines  was  under  cultivation.  The 
herding  of  sheep  had  been  introduced.  A  grist  mill  had  been 
built.  A  cutlery  had  been  founded;  for  Kiihnel  had  been  a 
journeyman  in  the  establishment  at  Herrnhut  originated  by  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Neissers.  And  as  years  passed  the  prejudices  of  the  more 
thoughtful  of  the  Boers  gave  way.  They  discovered  that 
Baviaanskloof  contributed  to  their  wants,  and  that  a  reUable, 
conscientious  and  inteUigent  Moravian  convert,  even  if  paid 
reasonable  wages,  was  a  more  profitable  employe  than  a 
drunken,  pilfering,  ignorant  savage,  though  practically  an  un- 
paid slave. 

In  1797  John  Philip  Kohrhammer  of  Gnadau  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  mission,  and  with  his  wife  arrived  next 
spring.  The  gradual  increase  in  the  number  of  inhabitants, 
more  than  1,200  according  to  a  census  taken  in  January,  1799, 
required  the  erection  of  a  larger  church.  The  missionaries 
planned  according  to  their  faith,  and  on  January  9,  1800,  a 
building  accommodating  fifteen  hundred  persons  was  conse- 
crated— an  object  of  interest  to  settlers  far  and  wide  and  of 
astonishment  to  the  savages.  Aged  Magdalena  survived  to  see 
this  pledge  of  greater  things ;  for  she  fell  asleep  just  one  week 
prior  to  the  dedication,  "having  probably  attained  the  age  of 
nearly  one  hundred  years." 

New  missionaries  were  now  sent,  and  Christian  Louis  Rose, 
formerly  of  Labrador,  in  turn  became  superintendent.  In  ex- 
ternals the  converts  were  prospering  from  the  produce  of  their 
fields  and  orchards  and  gardens  and  the  increase  of  their  herds. 
The  disposition  of  the  neighboring  proprietors,  and  especially 
of  Teunessen,  had  become  friendly.  The  change  of  the  name 
of  the  station  from  Baviaanskloof  to  Gcnadendal  (Vale  of  Grace), 
being  made  as  it  was  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Dutch  governor 
Jansen  on  the  restoration  of  the  colony  to  Holland  after  the 
Peace  of  Amiens,  testified  that  the  value  of  missionary  effort 
had  won  recognition. 


282 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


THE    ANNALS     OF     THE     CONTINENTAL     CONGREGATIONS  DUR- 
ING  THE    DECADE    PRECEDING   THE  GENERAL 
SYNOD    OF  180I. 

With  the  advent  to  power  of  the  "Ministry  of  the  sansculottes'* 
unhappy  Louis  XVI  in  the  spring  of  1792  had  been  compelled 
to  declare  war  against  Francis  II  of  Austria.  From  that  time 
till  the  Treaty  of  Luneville  the  tornado  of  strife  raged  with 
scarcely  any  intermission  and  the  whole  of  Europe  became  in- 
volved. Existing  institutions  of  every  kind  were  severely 
tested.  Scattered  through  various  lands  the  congregations  of 
the  Brethren's  Church  inevitably  suffered.  Communications 
were  interrupted.  Direct  losses  of  property  were  endured  and 
the  oppressive  burden  of  requisitions  felt,  wherever  the  track  of 
conflict  passed.  The  demoralizing  consequences  of  war  upon 
honest  toil,  and  its  efifect  upon  the  intellectual  spirit  of  the  age, 
the  unrest  and  disquiet  engendered,  with  a  disinclination  for  the 
ordinary  round  of  duties — all  these  were  keenly  felt. 

Berthelsdorf  was  now  the  seat  of  the  Unity's  administrative 
board.  Since  the  death  of  Spangenberg  Jeremiah  Risler,  John 
Frederick  Reichel  and  Christian  Gregor,  all  of  them  bishops 
and  men  of  parts,  were  leaders.  The  actual  vacancy  caused  by 
the  death  of  Spangenberg  was  filled  in  October,  1793,  by 
Christian  Geisler,  hitherto  warden  of  various  congregations. 

Valuable  services  were  rendered  by  John  Frederick  William 
.Kolbing,  the  m.an  on  whom  most  especially  Kober's  mantle  had 
fallen.  With  him  as  financiers  were  associated  two  men  like 
himself  originally  trained  for  the  law,  Godfrey  Goldman  and 
Frederick  William  Schober.  The  oftice  of  Provincial  Helper 
in  Upper  Lusatia  had  ceased  with  Layritz.  In  Silesia  Carl 
Sigismund  von  Seidlitz  held  the  corresponding  position  till  1801, 
when  it  also  fell  into  abeyance. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


283 


During-  this  period  the  hand  of  death  worked  a  number  of 
changes  in  the  board.  On  May  10,  1797,  Count  Henry  2Sth 
Reuss,  the  nephew  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  since  1789  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Conference,  died  at  Herrnhut.  Esteemed  and  prized 
in  wide  circles  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Unity,  he  had  been  an 
ornament  of  the  church,  whose  necessities  he  had  several  times 
met  out  of  his  private  means.  The  death  of  Martin  Godfrey 
Sternberg  on  July  5  of  the  next  year  and  that  of  Bishop 
Loretz  on  July  23,  created  other  vacancies.  Shortly  before, 
Hans  Christian  Alexander  von  Schweinitz  arrived  from  America, 
to  take  the  place  of  Count  Reuss ;  and  now  Jacob  Christopher 
Duvernoy  and  Charles  Forestier  made  good  the  other  places. 
Upon  these  men  and  their  associates  fell  the  task  of  devising 
ways  and  means  to  pilot  the  church  through  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  of  these  anxious  years. 

Providentially  not  all  the  groups  of  congregations  were  alike 
exposed  to  molestation.  At  first  the  Saxon  settlements  escaped. 
In  1790  the  peace  of  the  Silesian  congregations  had  been  threat- 
ened from  the  massing  of  a  Prussian  army  on  the  Austrian 
frontier,  till  the  convention  of  Reichenbach  united  these  two 
kingdoms  against  France.  Central  Germany  still  enjoyed  the 
sweets  of  peace,  and  Neudietendorf  was  a  refuge  for  those  who 
fled  from  the  western  settlements.  But  Neuwied  and  Zeist  suf- 
fered. 

In  1795  the  cHmax  of  trouble  was  reached.  French  in- 
trigues in  Poland,  stimulating  Kosiusko's  revolt,  had  drawn 
away  the  attention  of  the  two  German  powers  to  the  east,  and 
compelled  them-  to  rest  content  with  defensive  operations  along 
the  Rhine.  In  April  Frederick  William  had  signed  a  separate 
treaty  of  peace  at  Basel.  France  was  to  retain  the  Prussian  ter- 
ritories on  the  left  bank,  with  the  understanding  that  at  the 
close  of  the  war  some  compensation  should  be  awarded  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  river.  But  although  the  North  Germ.an 
states  were  recognized  as  neutral  in  virtue  of  their  alliance  with 
Prussia,  when  Pichegru  and  Jourdan  received  orders  to  cross 
the  Rhine,  the  fire  of  hostilities  neared  Neuwied.  The  con- 
flict burst  out  afresh  in  its  very  vicinity.  To  prevent  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Rhine  by  the  republicans  the  Austrian  forces  erected 
batteries  at  the  upper  end  of  the  town,  close  to  the  Brethren's 
quarter.  On  the  13th  the  French  on  the  opposite  heights  of 
Weissenthurm  opened  a  brisk  cannonade,  which  was  answered 


284 


A  HISTORY  OF 


by  the  imperialists.  On  the  27th  a  heavj'  artillery  duel  raged, 
the  French  having  taken  possession  of  a  small  island  in  the 
Rhine.  Shot  and  shell  poured  through  the  streets  of  the  town. 
Many  houses  were  injured,  and  an  extensive  manufactory  was 
set  on  fire.  All  of  the  inhabitants  who  could  do  so  fled.  Most 
of  those  who  remained  took  refuge  in  their  cellars.  A  shell  burst 
just  before  the  house  of  the  pastor.  Christian  Frederick  Gregor, 
jr.,  pieces  flying  through  the  window  into  the  very  room  where 
his  wife  and  children  were  sitting,  but  without  injuring  any  of 
them.  As  soon  as  there  was  a  lull  in  the  firing,  flight  from  the 
place  became  universal.  By  the  foresight  and  promptitude  of 
the  Principal,  Hillmer,  the  pupils  of  the  boys'  school  were  pro- 
vided for  in  the  castle  of  Montrepos,  about  five  miles  distant. 
Two  weeks  of  suspense  passed.  Then  news  came  that  the 
French  had  effected  a  crossing  at  Diisseldorf.  The  imperialists 
withdrew  and  the  French  occupied  the  town,  but  committed  no 
excesses.  With  the  growth  of  their  numbers,  however,  their 
conduct  grew  worse,  and  plundering  became  the  order  of  the 
day.  On  October  19  they  evacuated  the  town,  but  entrenched 
in  its  immediate  vicinity.  An  attack  by  imperial  riflemen  once 
more  drew  the  fire  of  their  batteries  on  the  place,  and  when 
they  withdrew,  the  French  rushed  in  and  commenced  an  indis 
criminate  rifling  of  the  houses.  A  street  fight  followed.  But 
now  an  armistice  was  arranged  at  the  instance  of  the  governor 
of  Neuwied  by  one  of  the  Brethren,  and  although  the  theater 
of  war  once  more  drifted  into  the  neighborhood  next  year,  and 
several  skirmishes  took  place,  Neuwied  itself  was  declared  a 
neutral  town. 

Zeist,  like  Neuwied,  felt  the  direct  effects  of  war,  especially 
during  Pichegru's  invasion.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  these  times  of 
trial  the  organization  of  its  active  missionary  society  was 
effected.  In  the  early  part  of  1795  the  settlement  was  occupied 
alternately  by  the  British  and  the  French.  In  spite  of  appre- 
hensions entertained  in  advance,  distinguished  consideration 
was  shown  by  Pichegru  and  Moreau.  Although  no  supplies 
were  allowed  to  be  sent  from  the  town  of  Utrecht  to  the  coun- 
try, a  measure  rigorously  enforced  and  a  cause  of  much  dis- 
tress, a  special  exception  was  made  in  favor  of  Zeist.  With 
the  establishment  of  the  Batavian  Republic  in  May,  1795,  faith- 
ful adherents  of  the  old  order  were  put  to  much  inconvenience. 
The  ministers  of  the  congregations  in  Amsterdam,  Haarlem 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


285 


and  particularly  in  Zeist  could  be  exempted  from  the  universal 
conscription  only  by  the  payment  of  considerable  sums.  The 
new  regulations  respecting  the  local  administration  of  justice, 
the  increased  taxation  and  the  interruption  of  the  channels  of 
trade  involved  annoyances.  Nevertheless  in  Amsterdam  the 
small  congregation  in  1795  ventured  to  purchase  as  a  nev/  house 
of  worship  a  stately  edifice  on  the  Kaisersgraat. 

In  the  Scandinavian  field  Christiansfeld  enjoyed  peace  and  a 
blessing  rested  upon  its  educational  institutions,  its  industries 
and  its  inner  life.  At  Copenhagen  and  Altona,  in  Jutland  and 
Fiinen,  and  in  the  Duchies  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein,  the  itin- 
erations of  the  Brethren  were  of  special  significence  during  this 
period.  The  Scandinavian  Diaspora  flourished.  Christiania 
and  Drammen  in  Norway  had  their  resident  ministers.  Stock- 
holm, Gothenburg,  Carlscrona  and  Uddewalla  were  centers  of 
influence,  and  the  translation  of  Spangenberg's  Idea  was  ac- 
corded a  wide  welcome.  Yet  all  was  prosecuted  on  the  basis 
of  the  Diaspora  only ;  for  negotiations  carried  on  for  the  church 
by  Ulric  Roslin  with  the  Diet  at  Stockholm,  in  1786  and  1788, 
to  secure  permission  for  a  settlement  in  Sweden,  had  failed. 

In  Livonia  and  Esthonia,  the  extensive  range  and  wide  rami- 
fications of  societies  in  connection  with  the  Brethren  were  such 
that  when  Ouandt,  in  1793,  on  the  occasion  of  an  ofificial  visit, 
convened  assembHes  of  the  ministers  of  the  church  and  their 
assistants,  as  many  as  three  hundred  gathered  for  one  of  the 
conferences. 

Sarepta  was  prospering,  though  the  mission  amongst  the  Tar- 
tars which  was  to  have  had  this  settlement  as  a  base  of  opera- 
tions was  hemmed  in  by  adverse  circumstances. 

As  far  back  as  January,  1797,  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference 
had  felt  the  desirabihty  of  convening  a  general  synod  on  ac- 
count of  the  altered  conditions  of  operation  here  and  there  in- 
troduced by  the  French  Revolution.  But  by  the  decision  of  the 
lot  it  was  postponed  until  1801,  a  date  at  one  time  apparently 
impracticable,  but  eventually  rendered  possible  by  the  armistice 
of  Luneville. 


286 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


THE  BRITISH  PROVINCE  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  EIGHTEEXTH 

CENTURY. 

Since  the  year  1789  the  Provincial  oversight  in  England  had 
been  entrusted  to  Cornelius  Renatus  Van  Laer;  after  1791  to 
Gotthold  Wollin ;  then  from  1792  to  1800  to  Thomas  Moore, 
with  Ignatius  La  Trobe  as  a  colleague  after  he  succeeded  to 
Hutton's  ofBce  of  Sccrctarius  Unitatis  in  AngJia.  On  the  death 
of  Abraham  Taylor  in  1790,  Bishop  Schaukirch,  erstwhile  ac- 
tive in  America  and  then  in  the  West  Indies,  was  associated 
with  William  Horne,  until  he  sought  retirement,  in  the  Irish 
supervision,  to  be  succeeded  in  turn  by  Steinhauer  in  1797. 

Death  thinned  the  ranks  of  the  generation  which  had  person- 
ally known  the  beginnings  in  England.  Among  these  fathers, 
James  Hutton  fell  asleep  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty,  on  May 
3'  ^795 — ^  "1^"  of  limitless  charity,  whose  later  life  was  "liter- 
ally spent  in  going  about  doing  good,"  and  withal  a  man  of 
more  than  ordinary  endowments,  strong  common  sense,  and 
quickness  of  feeling  and  apprehension,  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Unity  in  Britain.  He  had  been  preceded  in  1794  by  Francis 
Okley,  the  energetic  and  eloquent  minister  of  the  Northampton 
congregation. 

The  bond  of  fellowship  connecting  the  British  with  the  Con- 
tinental Province  was  strengthened  by  an  official  visit  paid  in 
the  summer  of  1795  by  Bishop  Liebisch.  His  first  attention 
was  given  to  the  affairs  of  the  church  in  London,  difficulties 
having  arisen  in  connection  with  the  management  of  the  mis- 
sion in  Labrador  between  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of 
the  Gospel  and  that  portion  of  it  known  as  the  "Ship  Com- 
mittee," the  mercantile  association  charged  with  the  trade  and 
transportation.  These  disagreements  were  about  a  decade  old, 
and  some  feeling  had  been  engendered,  the  Brethren  Edmonds 
and  Hurlock  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  narrower  circle,  not 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


287 


from  self-interest,  but  from  a  conviction  of  justice  as  they  re- 
garded it.  Unable  to  reach  or  promote  any  definite  conclusion 
immediately,  the  visitor  had  to  pass  on  to  other  duties.  But 
in  1797  the  "Ship  Committee"  was  abrogated,  and  the  entire 
financial  management  of  everything  connected  with  the  mission 
was  relegated  to  the  Society.  After  visiting  a  number  of  con- 
gregations on  his  way  thither,  Liebisch  was  present  at  a  pro- 
vincial conference  in  session  at  Fulneck  from  September  30  to 
October  13.  Its  significance  would  doubtless  have  proved  the 
more  eventful,  had  not  the  propositions  agreed  upon  been  in- 
valid until  referred  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  for  ap- 
proval and  confirmation — as  in  the  case  of  ministerial  confer- 
ences held  during  the  same  general  period  of  the  Church's  his- 
tory in  America.  How  the  natural  development  of  the  church, 
in  an  age  when  national  characteristics  were  clear-cut  and  dis- 
tinct, was  to  be  promoted  by  such  a  method  is  difficult  to  un- 
derstand ;  and  it  certainly  is  open  to  question,  whether  the  unity 
and  uniformity  which  it  was  desired  in  this  way  to  conserve, 
were  worth  all  that  was  inevitably  sacrificed.  For  example, 
when  John  Hartley,  Steinhauer's  able  successor  in  the  director- 
ship of  the  schools  at  Fulneck,  wished  to  attempt  a  plan  of  sup- 
plementing the  curriculum  of  the  boys'  school  with  collegiate 
studies,  and  so  provide  the  preparatory  education  of  the  future 
ministers  of  the  Province,  who  should  then  receive  practical 
training  as  assistants  of  various  ministers,  whilst  residing  in 
their  homes  after  the  olden  fashion  of  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren 
in  its  ancient  seats — a  plan  which  would  remove  the  necessity 
of  having  recourse  to  the  schools  in  Germany — the  entire  pro- 
ject received  official  condemnation  as  "impracticable,"  "nnaus- 
fuhrhar." 

From  Fulneck  Liebisch  traveled  through  the  west  of  England 
and  Wales.  Carnarvorn,  Langharn  and  Carmarthen,  as  well 
as  Haverfordwest  were  now  centers  of  activity  in  the  Princi- 
pality. Intimate  association  with  earnest  ministers  of  other 
churches  was  found  to  be  characteristic  of  this  district.  The 
same  trait  also  appeared  in  Ireland,  especially  in  Dublin,  where 
Christian  Gottlieb  Hviffel,  active  here  from  1791  to  1798,  in  June 
of  179s  formed  a  union  with  nine  ministers  akin  to  that  of  the 
annual  conferences  of  pastors  at  Herrnhut.  But  for  the  Irish 
division  of  the  Moravian  Church  a  period  of  retrogression  had 
commenced.    Probably  no  portion  of  the  British  Empire  was 


288 


A  HISTORY  OF 


suffering  more  from  the  almost  incessant  strife  of  the  European 
powers,  even  as  it  had  felt  the  consequences  of  war  with  the 
American  colonies.  Business  was  stagnant,  and  this  reacted 
upon  every  avenue  of  life.  Great  distress  prevailed;  misrule 
was  not  unknown.  Church  life  felt  the  effects.  Arva  had  been 
given  up  in  1790,  and  Drumargan  in  1794.  The  use  of  Bally- 
mena  chapel  had  been  discontinued  in  1790.  At  Kilwarlin  the 
numbers  were  decreasing  at  such  a  rate  that  it  was  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  when  it  would  sink  to  the  condition  of  an  out-sta- 
tion served  from  Gracehill  and  BalHnderry.  One  bright  spot 
indeed  appeared,  the  newly  projected  enterprise  at  Clifden ;  but 
it  should  rapidly  decHne.  In  1788  Mr.  Edward  Burton,  an  in- 
fluential landed  proprietor  near  Ennis,  in  County  Clare,  had 
solicited  the  services  of  the  Brethren  on  his  estate  at  Cifden 
Hall  and  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  impressions  received  by  John 
Worthington,  pastor  in  Dublin,  on  investigation  of  the  pros- 
pects, had  led  to  the  sending  first  of  Lewis  West,  and  then  of 
Collis  as  permanent  pastor.  With  the  work  at  Clifden  he  had 
associated  activity  at  Crossard,  where  a  church  and  parsonage 
being  built,  he  in  1794  made  his  home.  But  the  rebellion  of 
1798,  following  upon  the  transfer  of  CoUis  to  the  English  field 
in  1796,  and  compelling  Mr.  Burton  and  other  friends  to  flee 
from  the  vicinity,  the  property  was  sold. 

From  Ireland,  Liebisch  made  his  way  to  Scotland  in  the 
spring  of  1796.  Arran  and  Galloway  had  been  repeatedly 
sought  out  of  late  by  the  Brethren's  indefatigable  itinerants, 
amongst  whom  Thomas  Almond  proved  himself  zealous  to  imi- 
tate the  good  example  of  Caldwell  and  Wade  and  Caries  in 
former  times.  But  no  permanent  results  came  of  these  efforts, 
though  continued  through  several  years,  and  Irvine  itself,  the 
filial  of  Ayr,  should  pass  into  extinction  because  of  the  removal 
of  the  members  elsewhere. 

Although  the  proposal  of  Hartley  with  reference  to  the 
founding  of  an  institution  for  ministerial  education  had  failed 
of  approval,  the  conference  of  1795  had  not  been  altogether  un- 
attended with  outward  results  in  the  widening  of  the  work.  In 
the  central  counties  Bedford,  where  the  foundation  stone  of  a 
new  place  of  worship  was  laid  in  1795,  and  whose  pastors  served 
some  eight  preaching-places  in  addition  to  that  in  St.  Peter's 
parish,  had  for  years  been  fruitful  by  means  of  itineracies  far 
and  near,  especially  throughout  the  rural  districts.    About  forty 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


289 


miles  distant,  for  example,  in  Northamptonshire,  and  served 
also  from  the  county-seat,  in  the  cluster  of  villages  formed  by 
Culworth,  Eydon  and  Woodford,  there  had  gradually  gathered 
an  increasingly  numerous  company  of  men  and  women  attached 
to  the  Brethren's  Church.  The  "society"  plan  of  serving  them 
had  been  tried  since  1792,  but  without  affording  complete  satis- 
faction to  these  friends  themselves,  whose  leader  was  William 
Hunt,  a  yeoman  of  Woodford.  To  the  conference  convened 
at  Fulneck  they  accordingly  sent  a  petition  to  be  organized  into 
a  regular  congregation,  and  this  transpired  at  Woodford  on 
September  25,  1796. 

It  was  during  this  period  also  that  the  usefulness  of  the  York- 
shire Brethren  reached  forth  to  Doncaster,  and  to  Kirby-Lons- 
dale  among  the  hills  of  Westmoreland.  The  first  visit  to  the 
latter  place  had  been  paid  in  1789,  though  no  actual  organiza- 
tion was  formed  here,  the  service  rendered  being  the  promotion 
of  life  within  the  parish  church.  About  eight  miles  away,  how- 
ever, within  the  Yorkshire  borders,  where  the  Swale  begins  to 
gather  its  tribute  of  waters  to  swell  the  stream  of  the  Yorkshire 
Ouse,  an  Independent  minister,  Edward  Stillman,  in  his  youth 
a  member  of  the  Moravian  Society  at  Bristol,  with  his  flock 
came  into  recognized  fellowship  with  the  Brethren,  the  first  con- 
tact taking  place  in  1794,  through  a  visit  thither  of  a  minister 
from  Fulneck.  The  union  was  the  more  naturally  effected 
since  Keld  had  been  one  of  the  scenes  of  Ingham's  activity, 
whom  the  people  held  in  blessed  remembrance. 

During  this  period  also  energies  were  directed  towards  the 
educational  sphere,  boarding-schools  being  established  in  1796 
at  Fairfield  (for  girls,  and  six  years  later  for  boys),  in  1792  at 
Gomersal  and  Dukinfield,  in  1794  at  Wyke,  and  in  1799  at  Ock- 
brook,  the  last  four  being  the  church's  contribution  to  the  edu- 
cation of  Englishwomen,  whilst  for  their  Irish  sisters  Stein- 
hauer  commenced  to  put  forth  similar  exertions  at  Gracehill  in 
1798.  The  last  school  was  favored  with  rapid  prosperity,  thanks 
to  the  special  talents  of  its  founder  and  the  general  esteem  in 
which  the  Brethren  were  held.  But  its  foundation  was  laid  in 
unpropitiofts  times. 

Since  1791,  in  part  a  fruit  of  reaction  from  the  terrorizing  of 
the  Peep  0'  Day  Boys,  and  stimulated  also  by  the  successful  de- 
velopment of  the  French  Revolution,  the  United  Irishmen  had 
been  secretly  compounding  rebellion.  Under  the  leadership  of 
20 


290 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Wolfe  Tone,  and  misled  by  the  hopes  of  a  French  landing  at 
Killala,  the  turbulent  discontent  assumed  the  proportions  of  an 
open  insurrection  in  1798.  With  the  example  of  the  Jacobin 
fury  before  them,  and  maddened  by  their  own  sense  of  wrongs, 
the  patriots  allowed  gross  brutalities  to  disgrace  their  cause 
and  contribute  to  its  defeat.  Though  Wexford  was  the  chief 
theater  of  actual  warfare,  the  rising  assumed  ominous  propor- 
tions in  Ulster  also,  and  for  a  time  the  vicinity  of  Gracehill 
threatened  to  be  the  scene  of  a  conflict  between  the  royal  army 
and  that  of  the  rebels.  During  the  week  from  the  third  to  the 
tenth  of  June  apprehensions  rose  to  a  climax.  For  three  days 
the  settlment  was  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents,  who  had  over- 
powered the  troops  at  Randalstown  and  at  Ballymena.  Hap- 
pily no  actual  violence  was  endured,  though  life  and  property 
had  been  held  at  a  cheap  rate  elsewhere,  and  loud  threats  were 
uttered  against  the  Moravians.  The  worst  was  averted  through 
the  rapid  desertion  of  their  standards  by  several  thousand  rebels 
at  Ballymena,  on  receiving  news  of  the  downfall  of  their  cause 
elsewhere,  the  most  determined  only  maintaining  an  unequal 
contest  hereafter  by  recourse  to  outlawry.  Having  served  as 
a  place  of  refuge  for  loyalists  of  the  vicinity,  Gracehill  was  ex- 
posed to  the  vengeance  of  desperate  irreconcilables,  whose  ex- 
cesses and  depredations  still  rendered  life  unsafe,  and  for  some 
time  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  semi-martial  regulations  at 
night.  Patrols  and  pickets  kept  watch  and  ward.  As  late  as 
the  Christmas  season  of  1799  the  outlaws  created  alarm,  and 
imtil  public  tranquility  was  restored  church  work  was  at  a  dis- 
advantage. 


I 

i 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


291 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  DURING  THE  YEARS  PRECEDING  THE 
SYNOD  OF  1 80 1. 

More  than  ever  the  dearth  of  ministers  and  the  need  of  an  in- 
stitution in  America  for  the  preparation  of  candidates  became 
apparent.  From  time  to  time  there  arrived  from  abroad  men 
for  the  service  of  the  congregations  or  of  the  schools,  but  it  was 
difficult  for  them  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  surroundings ; 
and  the  leaders  were  beginning  to  feel  the  weight  of  years. 
This  was  especially  the  case  after  the  recall  of  Von  Schweinitz 
to  Germany.  Bishop  Ettwein  no  longer  possessed  the  physical 
vitality  which  had  rendered  possible  the  extensive  itinerations  of 
his  prime  and  on  November  5,  1798  his  chief  assistant  since 
1790,  John  Augustus  Klingsohr,  died.  Bishop  John  Andrew 
Hiibner  served  as  successor  of  Hehl.  John  Gebhard  Cunow 
was  administrator  in  place  of  Von  Schweinitz.  Marschall,  Hke 
Ettwein  in  the  eventide  of  Hfe,  received  as  his  special  assistant 
Frederick  von  Schweinitz,  his  own  grandson  and  the  son  of  the 
former  administrator. 

Under  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  its  Principal  from  1790  to  1800,  the 
Seminary  for  Young  Ladies  at  Bethlehem  enjoyed  prosperity. 
Higher  education  for  women  had  few  exponents  as  yet.  In 
the  summer  of  1797  the  Principal  was  compelled  to  address  a 
circular  to  patrons,  explaining  the  impossibiUty  of  considering 
new  applications  for  admission  for  one  year  and  a  half  to  come, 
so  many  were  on  the  Ust.  The  catalogue  of  the  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  pupils,  entered  during  this  term,  contains  the 
names  of  many  well-known  and  influential  famiHes.  A  grand- 
niece  of  President  Washington  and  names  like  Sumpter,  Huger, 
Alston,  Bayard,  Heister,  Addison,  Butler,  Bleeker,  Lansing, 
Livingston  and  Roosevelt  testify  to  the  national  reputation  now 
enjoyed.    Nazareth  Hall,  until  1802  in  charge  of  its  resuscita- 


292 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tor,  Charles  Gottliold  Reichel,  also  flourished,  though  its  num- 
bers were  not  equal  to  those  of  the  sister  institution  in  Beth- 
lehem. Its  tutors  were  secured  from  among  men  classically 
trained  in  the  schools  of  the  church  in  Germany. 

Amongst  the  features  of  life  in  the  congregations  the  follow- 
ing deserve  notice.  Christianspring,  west  of  Nazareth,  which 
from  its  inception  had  been  occupied  by  unmarried  men  only, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1796  ceased  to  have  this  distinctive 
character.  Indeed  the  choir  establishments,  and  especially 
those  of  the  single  men,  were  all  in  a  backward  condition.  Nor 
did  the  settlement  at  Hope  in  New  Jersey  flourish.  When  the 
call  of  Von  Schweinitz  to  become  a  member  of  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  reached  Pennsylvania,  it  gave  rise  to  a  thor- 
ough discussion  of  the  American  situation  previous  to  his  de- 
parture for  Europe,  and  the  probable  abandonment  of  Hope  in 
the  near  future  was  then  recognized.  Situated  at  a  distance 
from  centers  of  population,  ofif  the  lines  of  travel  and  com- 
merce, and  in  a  neighborhood  at  that  time  insalubrious,  it  lacked 
the  natural  elements  of  success. 

Efforts  to  be  of  service  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  organized 
congregations  were  not  altogether  wanting.  In  1794  stated  ap- 
pointments north  of  the  Blue  Mountains  were  met  from  Naza- 
reth and  Schoeneck,  and  the  Brethren  at  Lititz  preached 
monthly  at  an  outpost  in  Earl  Township,  and  in  1798  at  Hemp- 
field.  On  Staten  Island,  in  1792,  the  pastor  strove  to  evangelize 
the  colored  people.  But  chief  energies  were  directed  towards 
the  missions  amongst  the  Indians. 

Fairfield  in  Ontario  soon  became  a  prosperous  home  for  the 
wanderers,  and  the  missionaries  won  an  excellent  reputation 
amongst  the  settlers.  To  them  Michael  Jung  preached  fort- 
nightly at  a  place  seven  miles  distant,  and  other  colonists  forty 
miles  away  also  desired  the  services  of  the  Brethren.  By  the 
year  1798  quite  a  tract  was  under  cultivation,  wheat  as  well  as 
Indian  corn  being  grown.  The  industry  of  the  converts,  it  was 
admitted,  lowered  the  cost  of  some  of  the  necessaries  of  life  at 
Detroit.  The  great  Northwestern  Fur  Company  each  year  as 
a  rule  purchased  about  2,000  bushels  of  corn  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  cattle  at  Fairfield.  The  annual  output  of  maple  sugar 
was  estimated  at  5,000  pounds.  The  Christian  Indians  supplied 
canoes  for  all  the  neighboring  settlements.  Their  manufacture 
of  baskets  and  mats,  etc.,  was  in  great  demand,  and  found  a 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ready  sale.  Yet  the  resumption  of  communications  with  Beth- 
lehem, and  the  news  of  the  reservation  by  Congress  of  the  lands 
along  the  Tuscarawas  created  a  feeling  of  special  satisfaction. 
The  hearts  of  many  were  at  home  across  the  border.  In  spite 
of  the  prosperity  that  blessed  them  on  the  Thames,  there  were 
those  who  were  ready  to  accompany  the  venerable  missionary, 
Zeisberger,  when  he  announced  that  the  time  had  come  for  a 
re-occupation  of  their  former  fields  in  Ohio.  This  announce- 
ment could  not  be  made  until  1797,  for  until  that  year  the  un- 
settled state  of  the  Northwest  had  prevented  the  surveying  of 
the  land.  This  having  been  effected  by  General  Putnam,  the 
Surveyor  General  of  the  United  States,  in  conjunction  with 
John  Heckewelder  and  WilHam  Henry,  as  representatives  of 
the  church,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1798,  John  Heckewelder 
and  William  Edwards  left  Fairfield  with  five  Indian  brethren  to 
make  the  needful  preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  return- 
ing colony.  In  August  Zeisberger  and  his  wife,  with  Benjamin 
Mortimer,  who  had  recently  entered  the  service  of  the  mission, 
once  more  sought  the  scenes  along  the  Tuscarawas,  and 
brought  with  them  seven  Indian  families,  thirty-three  souls,  to 
form  the  nucleus  of  the  resuscitated  mission.  The  new  village 
was  established  about  half  an  hour's  walk  from  the  site  of 
Schonbrunn,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  and  farther  down 
the  stream.  It  received  the  name  of  Goshen.  By  the  end  of 
the  year  1799  it  numbered  fifty  Indian  inhabitants,  forty-six  of 
whom  had  been  baptized. 

It  was  evident  that  not  all  the  land  granted  on  the  Tusca- 
rawas could  be  occupied  by  the  Christian  Indians  in  person. 
Hence  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  as  their  trustee, 
in  1796  invited  members  of  the  church  to  remove  to  Ohio  and 
occupy  lands  on  the  Gnadenhiitten  and  Salem  tracts,  whose  ren- 
tal was  to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  benefit  of  the  converts. 
A  ready  response  came  from  Gnadenhiitten  on  the  Mahoni,  it 
being  understood  that  the  church  would  supply  the  colonists 
with  a  minister  and  establish  a  store,  the  surrounding  country 
being  practically  a  wilderness.  Thus  in  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1799  a  new  congregation  came  into  existence.  Amidst  great 
hardships,  the  road  having  frequently  to  be  cut  through  the 
forest  after  leaving  Georgetown,  the  nearest  settlement,  to  allow 
of  the  passage  of  wagons  and  cattle,  the  pioneers  had  made 
their  way  from  Pittsburgh.    Bush,  Peter,  Hotel,  Greer,  War- 


294 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ner,  Walton,  Rhodes,  Davis,  Edmunds  and  Chitty  are  the  names 
that  figure  amongst  those  who  braved  the  toil  of  a  Ufe  in  the 
wilderness.  Heckewelder  was  appointed  the  agent  of  the 
society,  empowered  to  grant  leases.  David  Peter  had  charge 
of  the  store.  Louis  Hiibner,  of  Lancaster,  became  pastor  in 
1800,  Mortimer  from  Goshen  previously  ministering  to  the  little 
company,  who  numbered  at  the  close  of  the  year  before  only 
twenty-five  souls.  New  accessions  doubled  the  number  in  the 
first  year  of  the  new  century. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  enterprise  projected  by  the  society. 
In  the  year  1790  there  arrived  at  Philadelphia  three  deputies 
of  the  Senecas,  asking  that  teachers  be  sent  to  their  people,  who 
were  desirous  of  adopting  civilized  usages.  Various  gentlemen 
of  influence  considered  this  an  opportunity  for  the  Brethren ; 
and  on  January  6,  1791,  Governor  Mifflin  invited  Bishop 
Ettwein  to  meet  the  Indians.  Whilst  in  Philadelphia  Ettwein 
learnt  that  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  had  determined  to 
grant  70,000  acres  of  unreclaimed  land  as  a  source  of  revenue 
for  the  estabHshment  of  schools  and  institutions  of  learning. 
In  the  name  of  the  society  he  therefore  applied  for  a  tract  situ- 
ated on  Lake  Erie,  to  be  used  in  defraying  the  expense  of  secur- 
ing teachers  for  the  Indians.  The  petition  was  favorably  re- 
ceived, and  an  act  was  passed  granting  the  society  5,000  acres 
for  this  purpose.  This  grant  was  surveyed  in  1794  by  John 
Heckewelder  and  Jacob  Eyerly  for  the  church,  in  two  tracts, 
one  lying  along  the  Conneaught  and  reaching  to  Lake  Erie,  and 
the  other  on  the  French  Creek,  not  far  from  Presqu'  Isle ;  and 
to  these  lands  985  acres  were  added,  in  part  purchased  from  the 
State  and  in  part  a  donation.  That  on  the  Conneaught  received 
the  name  of  "Hospitality"  and  the  other  "Good  Luck;"  but  set- 
tlers came  forward  very  slowly. 

In  the  year  1782,  when  the  converts  on  the  Tuscarawas  had 
been  taken  captive  to  the  Sandusky,  some  of  their  number  had 
escaped  westwards  to  the  White  River,  a  tributary  of  the 
Wabash.  Here  a  portion  of  the  Delaware  and  Nanticoke  tribes 
now  had  their  home.  In  1799  William  Henry  Geleleniend  (Kil- 
buck)  sent  a  message  from  Goshen  to  this  portion  of  his  people 
through  a  chief  named  Hakinkpomagu,  who  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Tuscarawas  in  May,  announcing  the  return  of  himself  and  his 
Christian  companions  to  their  old  homes,  and  inviting  the  Dela- 
wares  of  the  White  River  to  come  frequently  to  Goshen  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


295 


receive  the  gospel.  This  estabhshed  a  connection  between 
them  and  the  missionaries,  and  in  April,  1800,  a  messenger  ar- 
rived from  the  council  of  the  Delawares  at  Woapikamikunk, 
as  their  town  was  called,  with  an  invitation  to  send  teachers 
thither.  In  response  John  Peter  Kluge,  formerly  a  missionary 
in  Surinam,  and  Abraham  Luckenbach,  a  teacher  at  Nazareth 
Hall,  received  the  call,  and  proceeding  from  Bethlehem  in  Octo- 
ber, arrived  at  Goshen  on  November  18.  The  project  met  the 
entire  approval  of  Zeisberger.  During  their  four  months'  stay 
in  order  to  familiarize  themselves  with  the  language  under  his 
direction,  two  Indian  Brethren,  Charles  Henry  and  Jacob  Pem- 
aholend,  went  in  advance  to  announce  their  coming  to  Chief 
Packanghill.  Land  was  promised  at  Woapikamikunk,  the  assur- 
ance was  given  that  no  rum-seller  or  drunken  person  should  be 
allowed  to  annoy  them,  and  that  they  should  labor  unhindered. 

Accordingly  on  February  24,  1801,  the  missionaries,  accom- 
panied by  Joshua,  a  native  helper,  as  interpreter  and  nine  other 
persons,  left  for  the  Wabash  in  canoes,  via  the  Muskingum,  the 
Ohio  and  the  Miami.  On  their  arrival  many  privations  were 
at  first  endured  owing  to  scantiness  of  provisions,  and  fevers 
prostrated  them.  The  house  of  the  missionaries  was  on  an  ele- 
vated spot  between  nine  populous  Indian  towns.  In  March, 
1802,  two  Indian  women  were  baptized  as  the  first  converts,  and 
the  moving  thither  of  Christian  Indians  from  the  former  settle- 
ments caused  a  little  village  of  ten  houses  to  spring  up  around 
the  church.  Other  baptisms  followed,  so  that  by  the  close  of 
the  year  the  congregation  counted  twenty-three  souls. 

Meantime  two  of  the  veterans  of  the  Indian  Mission  entered 
into  their  rest,  Gottlob  Senseman  at  Fairfield  on  January  4, 
1800,  and  William  Edwards  at  Goshen  on  October  8,  1801.  The 
place  of  Senseman  was  filled  by  Christian  Frederick  Denke  of 
Nazareth,  who  now  came  to  assist  Michael  Jung  and  Sebastian 
Oppelt.  Soon  their  united  endeavors  reached  out  towards  an 
extension  of  the  mission.  Being  joined  in  1801  by  John  Schnall, 
it  was  possible  to  commence  activity  amongst  the  Chippeway 
villages  on  the  Jongquahamik. 

The  original  intention  of  the  settlement  of  the  Brethren  in 
Georgia  had  never  passed  wholly  out  of  mind.  Missions 
amongst  the  Cherokees,  Catawbas,  Chickasaws  and  Creeks  had 
been  repeatedly  planned.  John  Hagen's  visit  to  the  Cherokees 
in  1740  and  Ettwein's  negotiations  with  their  chiefs  at  Betha- 


296 


A  HISTORY  OF 


bara  in  the  sixties  failed  of  permanent  results  chiefly  because 
of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country.  In  1783  Martin  Schneider 
had  visited  Cherokee  towns  on  the  Tennessee  River,  but  strife 
between  the  colonists  and  the  Indians  had  once  more  inter- 
vened. In  1799  and  1800  journeys  of  exploration  were  under- 
taken with  encouraging  results  by  Abraham  Steiner  and  Fred- 
erick Christian  von  Schweinitz,  of  Salem.  Through  the  kind 
offices  of  Captain  Butler,  of  the  U.  S.  army,  they  were  enabled 
to  arrange  preliminaries  for  a  mission  at  Tellico  Block-house 
on  September  23,  1800,  at  a  great  council  of  from  three  to  four 
thousand  Indians.  In  April  of  the  following  year  Steiner  and 
Gottlieb  Byhan  set  out  to  found  the  mission.  The  spot  they 
selected  they  named  Spring-place  (now  the  county-seat  of  Mur- 
ray County,  Georgia).  At  first  the  intricacies  of  the  Cherokee 
language  and  the  lack  of  an  interpreter  presented  great  diffi- 
culties; but  slowly  a  Christian  congregation  was  successfully 
gathered  and  the  life  of  the  people  as  a  whole  was  savingly  in- 
fluenced. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


297 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  180I. 

Throughout  the  church  great,  if  somewhat  vague,  expectations 
attended  the  preparations  for  the  first  synod  in  the  new  century. 
Hope  awaits  a  new  era  with  the  turn  of  each  century,  even  though 
no  intelligent  reason  assures  that  the  imperfections  of  the  past, 
and  the  imperfections  only,  will  be  left  behind.  Besides  a  sunny 
gleam  of  peace  now  lit  up  skies  long  dark  with  war  clouds. 
Yet  what  transpired  might  have  taught  the  thoughtful  that  the 
hopes  were  not  substantial.  The  conviction  was  current,  that 
the  lay  element  should  be  given  a  voice  in  the  discussions  of 
the  synod.  But  it  was  regarded  with  apprehension  by  the  au- 
thorities, the  more  so  because  the  demand  was  voiced  in  Herrn- 
hut  itself,  in  a  letter  addressed  on  September  20,  1800,  to  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference  by  a  lawyer  named  Riegelmann. 
Then  towards  Christmas  John  Jacob  Fischer,  who  had  arrived 
from  Surinam,  began  to  rather  freely  criticise  the  methods  of 
management  and  alleged  arbitrary  dealings  of  certain  officials, 
and  in  February,  1801,  by  paper  entitled  "Considerations  with 
respect  to  our  Constitution"  turned  his  criticism  into  a  public 
attack.  He  received  the  consilium  abeundi,  and  in  response  to 
his  appeal  for  legal  redress.  Minister  von  Burgsdorf  suggested 
the  propriety  of  his  withdrawal  to  Wiirttemberg,  his  native 
state,  since  Saxony  did  not  care  to  harbor  "revolutionary 
spirits."  Meantime  Riegelmann,  who  did  not  identify  himself 
with  Fischer's  personalities,  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates 
of  the  Herrnhut  congregation.  How  sedulously  care  was  taken 
on  the  other  hand  to  curb  the  agitations  of  ''revolutionary 
spirits,"  will  appear  from  the  fact,  that  when  this  deputy-elect 
asked  for  copies  of  the  "Results"  of  the  synods  of  1764  and  1769, 
with  the  view  to  a  more  intelligent  discharge  of  the  functions  as- 
signed to  him,  he  was  refused  his  request,  "weil  kein  Privat- 


298 


A  HISTORY  OF 


mann  einen  Synodal  Verlass  in  Hdnden  haben  durfe."  Apparently 
the  French  Revolution  and  the  enormities  perpetrated  in  the 
name  of  liberty,  fraternity  and  equahty,  had  associated  the 
stigma  of  Jacobism  with  every  attempted  emendation  of  exist- 
ing institutions  and  regulations.  By  arbitrary  repression  of 
expression  of  opinion  the  unimportant  outworks  of  church 
policy  must  be  defended,  lest  the  fall  of  the  citadel  of  the  faith 
itself  should  follow.  A  vague  fear  of  revolutionary  purposes 
created  disinclination  to  distinguish  between  essentials  and 
non-essentials.  Burkhardt  thus  accounts  for  the  disappointing 
features  of  the  situation:  "On  both  sides,  on  the  part  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Unity  and  within  the  congregations  themselves, 
the  requisite  conditions  were  not  forthcoming.  An  aspira- 
tion after  larger  independence  and  freedom  from  tutelage  per- 
meated a  wide  circle  in  the  congregations.  The  civil  and  com- 
munal features  stood  out  in  antithesis  to  the  spiritual  ties  which 
cemented  together  the  Unity.  But  the  aim  of  the  strivings  was 
confused  and  unclear,  without  an  understanding  of  the  special 
calHng  of  the  Unity.  Those  who  presented  themselves  as  lead- 
ers, Jurist  Riegelmann,  now  living  in  Herrnhut  in  the  capacity 
of  a  private  citizen,  and  the  former  superintendent  of  Hope  in 
Surinam,  John  Jacob  Fischer,  who  had  been  dismissed  from 
mission  service,  lacked  the  earnest  spirit  of  a  conviction  rest- 
ing upon  the  conscience.  But  on  the  other  side,  amongst  the 
leaders  in  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  and  in  the  conferences 
of  the  individual  congregations,  there  failed  a  comprehensive 
understanding  of  the  mission  divinely  appointed  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  age.  Spangenberg's  benign  yet  so  far-seeing  spirit 
was  missing.  It  was  felt  that  the  task  of  the  synod  in  its  guid- 
ance of  the  church  would  be  best  fulfilled  by  a  strict  conserva- 
tion of  external  forms  and  regulations,  the  heritage  of  former 
days,  together  with  an  external  repression  of  all  movements 
and  strivings  of  a  contrary  sort.  By  sheer  force  this  policy  was 
carried  forward  to  victory;  but  not  to  the  true  profit  of  the 
church  or  the  real  promotion  of  its  inner  life.  This  character 
of  the  synod  of  1801  moreover  remained  firmly  imprinted  on  the 
following  period,  from  1801  to  1818.  In  many  respects  there 
was  a  retrogression  in  the  spirit  of  the  Unity  during  the  first 
two  decades  of  the  century,  and  all  strivings  to  attain  a  freer 
attitude  over  against  customary  usages  were  suppressed  by 
recourse  to  more  or  less  external  means." 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


299 


The  news  of  the  occurrences  at  Herrnhut  had  spread  to  the 
other  congregations,  and  aroused  considerable  apprehension 
and  tension  of  spirit.  In  the  political  world  also  the  air  was 
charged  with  portentious  possibiHties  of  disturbance.  On 
March  23  the  Czar,  Paul  I,  of  Russia  had  been  assassinated,  the 
violent  outcome  of  a  conspiracy  of  nobles  made  desperately 
venturesome  by  the  universal  discontent  throughout  his  empire. 
Britain,  regarding  the  Armed  Neutrality  as  tantamount  to  a 
declaration  of  war,  had  sent  Nelson  into  the  Baltic,  and  on 
April  2  the  bombardment  of  Copenhagen  had  compelled  the 
Danes  to  withdraw  from  the  league  against  the  isolated  foe  of 
France.  Kleber's  assassination  by  a  Moslem  fanatic  had 
shaken  the  power  of  the  Republican  forces  in  Egypt,  and  their 
discomfiture  had  been  completed  by  Abercromby.  The  news 
of  Menou's  capitulation  could  not  be  far  off.  Amid  such  preg- 
nant events  the  influence  of  the  times  refused  to  be  ignored. 

The  composition  of  the  synod  predisposed  its  deliverances  in 
the  interests  of  ultraconservatism,  championed  by  the  weighty 
influence  of  the  venerable  Godfrey  Cunow.  The  chief  speakers 
were  the  most  elderly  men  who  had  participated  in  all  synods 
since  1764.  Out  of  forty-five  members  only  two  represented 
the  imofiicial  lay  element. 

Bishop  Risler  was  chosen  President.  A  review  of  the  Results 
(Verlass)  of  the  Synod  of  1789  directed  the  course  of  the  dis- 
cussions. No  material  changes  were  made  in  the  statement  of 
doctrine.  In  connection  with  the  ritual  and  worship  no  im- 
portant alterations  were  suggested,  except  that  in  future  the 
"Praying  bands"  in  the  congregations — the  outcome  of  the 
"Hourly  Intercession"  of  former  days — should  be  restricted  to 
those  of  the  members  who  were  chosen  each  quarter-year  by  lot. 
The  idea  was  promulgated  that  the  actual  kernel  of  the  church 
consists  of  a  faithful  band  within  each  congregation — Das  treue 
Teil  der  Gemeine.  With  questionable  accuracy  this  notion  was 
supposed  to  be  identical  with  what  Zinzendorf  sought  to  convey 
by  a  similar  expression  as  far  back  as  1731.  Yet  the  lessons 
of  the  past  should  have  taught  that  any  attempt  to  discriminate 
and  fix  by  regulations  divisions  that  might  promote  the  idea  of 
an  inner  circle  of  the  elect  in  contrast  to  the  rest  of  the  mem- 
bership, would  hardly  promote  unity,  vitalize  the  reHgious  life 
of  the  whole,  and  insure  the  normal  growth  of  the  entire  church. 
The  expression  -i'Aewi,    employed  in  Philippians  3:15  and  He- 


300 


A  HISTORY  OF 


brews  5  :i4,  by  reference  to  which  the  notion  was  defended,  had 
no  sharply  defined  portion  of  the  apostoHc  church  in  view.  As 
Plitt  truly  observes,  "the  present  conception  involved  the  nar- 
rowing down  of  the  Zinzendorfian  idea  of  the  Brethren's  Unity 
as  a  'Gemeine  Gottes  im  Geiste,'  and  that  of  Spangenberg  as  a 
'Hving  Church  of  Christ,'  to  a  fragment  within  the  Unity."  This 
formal  recognition  of  a  "faithful  part"  within  the  church  was 
calculated  to  further  depress  its  life,  being  tantamount  to  a  con- 
fession of  weakness  and  ill-health  with  an  impHed  recognition 
of  inability  to  cope  with  the  situation ;  for  an  organization 
usually  falls  below  its  ideal  rather  than  outreaches  it.  The 
more  hopeful  plan  would  have  been  to  hold  out  to  the  entire 
organization  the  possibility  of  outdoing  even  the  best  era  in  its 
past. 

With  all  the  leaning  to  conservatism,  it  was  admitted  that  the 
plumbline  of  the  exclusive  settlements  could  not  be  longer  ap- 
plied to  all  the  congregations  and  that  even  in  the  settlements 
the  determination  of  the  membership  of  the  church  council  by 
lot  must  give  place  to  an  election.  Various  congregations  in 
England  and  Ireland  asked  that  freedom  be  granted  in  respect 
to  the  use  of  the  lot  in  connection  with  marriages.  The  dis- 
cussion became  especially  Hvely  when  Riegelmann  read  his  pro- 
memoria  in  favor  of  liberty.  Hegner,  the  successor  of  Cranz  as 
church  historian,  supported  him.  John  Christian  Geissler  op- 
posed. John  Frederick  Reichel  advanced  objections  to  any 
change.  Cunow  recommended  adherence  to  the  most  definite 
rules  for  the  settlement  congregations — "our  entire  constitu- 
tion necessitates  that  in  them  no  marriage  shall  be  contracted 
without  the  approval  of  the  lot."  This  opinion  prevailed.  It 
was  a  victory  dearly  bought,  as  the  sequel  of  declining  numbers 
shows.  A  usage  which  had  come  into  existence  gradually  and 
without  legislation,  by  the  voluntary  assent  of  those  concerned, 
the  incorporation  of  which  in  the  regulations  since  1764  was  jus- 
tifiable only  on  the  ground  of  the  previous  voluntary  practice, 
was  now  insisted  upon  as  a  sine  qua  non  of  membership  in  the 
congregations  proper. 

Earnest  discussion  was  aroused  in  connection  with  the  organ- 
ization of  the  "choirs"  by  an  inquiry  into  the  condition  of  the 
establishment  of  the  unmarried  men  at  Herrnhut.  As  in  other 
congregations,  it  no  longer  served  as  a  worthy  training  school 
for  missionary  candidates.    The  old  severe  simplicity  had  do- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


301 


parted.  Undue  attention  to  refinement  of  tastes,  a  love  of 
pleasure,  a  relaxing  of  discipline  and  a  decline  of  thoroughness 
and  masterly  execution  in  handicraft  could  be  lamented.  The 
establishment  was  becoming  rather  a  joint  lodging-house  than 
a  religico-industrial  institution.  Synod  resolved  to  insist  upon 
external  rules  for  this  and  the  kindred  institutions  with  more 
rigid  strictness  than  ever — a  futile  panacea  for  the  amendment 
of  inner  Hfe,  especially  since  with  the  altering  conditions  of  the 
world  of  labor  these  establishments  were  outliving  their  use- 
fulness. 

Financially  the  church  had  been  prospering  in  spite  of  the 
war,  not  so  much  on  account  of  liberal  contributions  as  by  rea- 
son of  extraordinary  sources  of  income,  the  proceeds  of  annui- 
ties and  the  sale  of  certain  estates  in  1798,  inherited  from  one 
of  the  Gersdorfs.  At  the  opening  of  the  synod  only  $54,000  of 
indebtedness  remained.  On  July  12  Striimpfler,  one  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Herrnhut  congregation  and  a  director  of 
the  Diirninger  establishment,  assumed  this  remainder  in  the 
name  of  his  firm.  Yet  the  financial  outlook  was  not  altogether 
rosy.  Bishop  Gregor  dampened  the  general  exultation  by 
drawing  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  debts  of  the  individual 
congregations  were  formidable,  and  had  been  increasing  since 
the  last  synod.  Moreover,  the  general  sustentation  account  of 
the  Unity  and  that  of  its  schools  still  needed  hberal  support. 

Of  the  former  members  of  the  governing  board  Briant  now 
retired  from  active  service,  and  Kolbing  became  warden  of 
Herrnhut.  Their  places  were  taken  by  Goldmann  and  Bishop 
John  Andrew  Hiibner. 

Finally  Christian  Solomon  Dober  of  Gnadenfrei,  Gotthold 
Reichel,  Thomas  Moore  and  Traugott  Benade,  Provincial  Help- 
ers in  Wachovia,  England  and  Ireland,  were  consecrated 
bishops ;  and  Von  Forestier,  Von  Schweinitz  and  Christian 
Ignatius  La  Trobe  were  solemnly  set  apart  as  Seniores  Civiles. 


302 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


THE  CONGREGATIONS  ON  THE  CONTINENT  OF  EUROPE  DURING  THE 
NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

On  November  6,  1801,  Bishop  Gregor  suddenly  passed  away, 
overtaken  by  a  stroke  at  the  door  of  his  dweUing.  His  place 
in  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  was  taken  next  spring  by 
Godfrey  Cunow,  hitherto  professor  in  the  seminary,  who  soon 
acquired  a  dominant  influence.  In  1808  he  was  consecrated  a 
bishop  at  Herrnhut  by  Bishops  Reichel,  Liebisch  and  Hiibner, 
and  three  years  later  became  President  of  the  Conference.  "He 
viewed  affairs  mainly  from  the  external  historical  standpoint,  and 
conceived  that  a  remedy  could  be  found  for  every  faulty  circum- 
stance primarily  by  the  application  of  external  means.  It  was 
difficult  for  him  to  appreciate  the  views  of  others.  Hence  he  em- 
phasized his  own  opinions  strenuously  and  gave  them  effect 
with  strongly  developed  self-consciousness.  He  meant  to  be 
faithful  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Unity,  but  he  apparently  had 
too  little  appreciation  of  the  innermost  being  of  a  man  and 
of  the  heart's  needs.  Hence  his  activity  lacked  the  right  spirit- 
ual influence  and  therewith  the  deeper  blessing."  Such  is 
Burkhardt's  analysis. 

However  the  sole  blame  for  the  retrogression  characterizing 
this  period  cannot  justly  be  laid  at  the  door  of  any  one  man. 
The  spirit  of  the  times  must  be  taken  into  account.  It  was  a 
transitional  epoch,  when  modern  institutions  were  emerging 
amid  the  storms  of  war.  With  the  unsettling  of  principles  that 
had  held  unquestioned  sway  for  centuries  in  civil  and  political 
life,  when  moreover  it  seemed  impossible  to  predict  what  pre- 
cise changes  would  attain  stability,  the  conservative  men  who 
stood  at  the  helm  in  their  bewilderment  could  not  discern  the 
currents  amid  which  the  Unity  was  drifting.  Heavy  financial 
losses  and  prolonged  moral  and  industrial  depression  predis- 
posed many  to  fear  and  expect  the  worst.    There  was  an  excuse 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


for  pessimism  in  Germany  in  the  era  of  Austerlitz  and  Jena 
and  Wagrani. 

Before  the  flimsy  texture  of  the  peace  of  Luneville  had  given 
way  Hans  Christian  Alexander  von  Schweinitz  died,  February 
26,  1802,  His  place  was  taken  by  Niels  Amtrup,  since  1798 
accounting  treasurer  of  the  board. 

During  the  portentous  period  when  the  First  Consul  seized 
the  imperial  crown  and  his  ambition  to  pose  as  the  modern 
Charlemagne  unmade  and  created  dynasties,  a  new  settlement 
was  being  founded.  In  response  to  a  petition  addressed  to  the 
synod  of  1801,  Goldmann  had  been  sent  to  Stuttgart  in  Decem- 
ber, 1802,  to  open  negotiations.  The  Duke  of  Wiirttemberg  was 
favorable,  but  certain  of  his  officials  demurred  at  the  desired 
freedom  from  military  service  and  the  enjoyment  of  religious 
liberty.  In  May,  1805,  events  took  a  new  turn.  A  favorable 
conclusion  was  reached,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
purchase  of  certain  estates  near  Villingen,  in  a  mountain  district 
with  the  typical  features  of  Black  Forest  scenery,  about  forty 
miles  from  Stuttgart,  but  the  outbreak  of  the  war  put  a  stop  to 
any  actual  commencement. 

With  fearful  rapidity  the  "grand  army"  of  France  was  hurled 
down  the  valley  of  the  Danube.  The  capitulation  of  Ulm,  Oc- 
tober 20,  followed  by  the  awful  carnage  of  the  "battle  of  the 
three  emperors"  at  Avisterlitz  on  December  2,  made  it  impossi- 
ble for  Talleyrand  to  dictate  humiliating  terms  to  the  Austrian 
envoys.  Now  Napoleon  began  to  find  thrones  for  the  members 
of  his  family.  "The  Confederation  of  the  Rhine"  was  pro- 
claimed in  July,  1806,  that  a  line  of  dependent  states  might 
serve  as  a  defensive  barrier  for  France  on  the  east.  "The 
Holy  Roman  Empire"  was  abolished.  Now,  too  late,  Prussia 
became  the  active  champion  of  German  liberties.  Proud  in  the 
memories  of  her  great  Frederick,  she  was  over-confident  of  her 
ability  to  wrestle  a  fall  with  the  Gallic  Hercules.  The  double 
defeat  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt  shattered  these  patriotic  expecta- 
tions. 

In  connection  with  the  operations  of  this  disastrous  campaign 
several  of  the  congregations  experienced  the  horrors  of  war. 
When  Brunswick  retired  to  Magdeburg,  Barby  and  Gnadau 
suffered  from  their  proximity.  "To  Barby  the  Saxon  General 
Von  Zezschwitz  retreated  with  about  six  thousand  men.  He 
was  pursued  by  the  French,  who  took  possession  of  the  town 


304 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and,  notwithstanding  the  neutraHty  granted  to  Saxony,  plun- 
dered and  in  a  most  shameless  manner  ill-treated  the  inhabi- 
tants. Generals  Murat,  Bernadotte  and  other  persons  belong- 
ing to  the  staff  lodged  in  the  castle,  and  were  provided  for  by 
the  warden  of  the  congregation.  A  depredatory  party  set  a 
house  near  the  church  on  fire,  for  the  purpose  of  plundering 
with  greater  secrecy.  Some  of  them  forced  their  way  into  the 
kitchen  of  the  college,  but  were  prevented  from  committing  any 
excesses,  a  guard  being  procured,  who  kept  oflf  the  marauders. 
The  students  rendered  essential  service  in  helping  to  extinguish 
fires.  All  the  other  inhabitants  that  were  able  were  put  in 
requisition  by  the  French,  to  assist  at  the  ferries  across  the  Elbe 
and  the  Saale.  During  this  season  of  terror  a  thousand  dra- 
goons were  quartered  a  day  and  a  night  at  Gnadau.  The  small- 
ness  of  the  settlement  rendered  this  burden  so  much  the  more 
oppressive.  Twenty,  thirty,  and  even  sixty  men  and  their 
horses  were  billeted  on  private  houses,  and  four  hundred  pri- 
vates, besides  officers,  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  Brethren's 
House.  This  night  cost  the  Brethren  nearly  $i,ooo,  not  reck- 
oning the  value  of  property  lost  by  individuals.  The  farm  of 
Doben,  belonging  to  the  settlement,  was  plundered  of  sixteen 
horses,  all  the  grain  and  hay,  the  linen  and  clothes  of  the  farmer, 
besides  $700  in  ready  money." 

Other  circumstances  were  also  operated  against  Barby.  The 
lease  of  the  manor  farm,  which  had  been  a  source  of  profit,  had 
expired  in  1801.  Electoral  Saxony  was  wilHng  to  renew  the 
lease,  but  at  a  higher  rate — at  least  20,000  thaler  in  place  of  the 
former  18,000.  Whilst  the  authorities  of  the  church  were  hesi- 
tating, a  certain  Mr.  Dietze  came  forward  with  proposals  even 
more  favorable  to  the  government.  Hence  only  the  castle  and 
the  land  immediately  connected  with  it,  held  by  hereditary  fee- 
hold,  remained  to  the  church.  This  involved  the  maintenance 
of  an  expensive  establishment  without  due  resources.  At  this 
juncture,  in  May,  1805,  Christian  Theodore  Zembsch,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  college  for  fifty-five  years,  resigned  on  account  of 
failing  powers.  His  former  colleague,  Cunow,  advocated  a  re- 
transfer  of  the  institution  to  Niesky.  To  this  the  Unity's  El- 
ders' Conference  agreed  in  1807.  But  the  course  of  public 
events  caused  the  withdrawal  to  be  even  more  radical  in  its  na- 
ture than  was  at  first  contemplated. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


The  interview  ot  the  emperors  on  the  ra{t  in  mid-stream  at 
Tilsit  narrowed  the  territory  of  Prussia  to  about  one-half  of 
what  Frederick  William  III  had  inherited,  and  the  Kingdom 
of  Westphalia  was  given  to  Napoleon's  youngest  brother,  Je- 
rome. Barby  lay  within  the  new  realm.  Most  of  its  people 
removed  to  Gnadau.  With  the  college  the  archives  and  various 
scientific  collections  had  been  transferred  to  Niesky.  The 
printing  establishment  was  closed,  and  the  book-store  trans- 
ferred to  Gnadau.  The  castle  and  its  subsidiary  buildings  stood 
empty.  In  the  early  spring  of  1808  Goldmann  had  appeared 
before  the  French  authorities  at  Cassel  to  solicit  a  retention  of 
the  special  concessions.  The  answer  was  equivocal,  except 
that  relief  from  military  service  could  be  enjoyed  only  by  the 
purchase  of  substitutes.  Thoroughly  discouraged,  the  authori- 
ties of  the  church  now  offered  the  castle  of  Barby,  exclusive  of 
the  farm  of  Doben,  to  the  astonished  Dietze  on  very  easy  terms. 
He  gladly  closed  with  the  offer.  On  May  6,  1809,  the  property 
was  surrendered ;  and  to  Christian  Gottlieb  Hiifiel,  since  1804 
preacher  at  the  castle,  but  now  member-elect  of  the  Unity's  El- 
ders' Conference,  was  assigned  the  sorrowful  duty  of  conduct- 
ing the  farewell  service,  on  August  20.  "The  surrender  of  this 
memorable  spot  aroused  throughout  the  Brethren's  Church  a 
universal  feeling  of  deepest  regret.  Even  the  French-West- 
phalian  Prefect  at  Magdeburg  said :  'Why  was  that  necessary  ? 
We  would  have  protected  the  Brethren,  and  no  harm  would 
have  come  to  them !' "  Time  endorses  this  verdict.  The 
abandonment  of  Barby  was  not  an  absolute  necessity.  Had 
patient  endurance  held  out  for  less  than  a  decade,  Barby  might 
again  have  become  a  source  of  strength.  But  the  castle  around 
which  hallowed  memories  clustered  now  became  a  magazine  for 
grain  and  wool !  The  chapel  was  turned  into  the  office  of  the 
French  ruler  of  the  district,  and  later  became  a  tax-office,  and 
finally  a  sugar-factory ! 

Meantime  the  new  settlement  in  the  Black  Forest  slowly 
assumed  proportions.  It  had  first  been  proposed  to  call  the 
place  Nain.  But  the  King  of  Wiirttemberg  preferred  to  stand 
sponsor  to  a  "Konigsfeld."  During  the  years  1806  and  1807 
the  most  necessary  edifices  were  erected.  The  civil  authorities 
desired  the  establishment  of  pretentious  business  and  manufac- 
turing concerns  under  Moravian  auspices,  but  the  risks  of  the 
times  precluded  large  ventures.    As  yet  the  church  did  not  feel 


3o6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


free  to  urgently  solicit  the  removal  thither  of  Diaspora  mem- 
bers. Who  could  tell  what  new  combinations  might  result  from 
the  next  turn  of  the  political  kaleidoscope?  Nor  did  the  hesi- 
ancy  of  the  church  lack  justification.  The  terms  of  the  Peace 
of  Pressburg  were  too  hard  for  Austria.  In  connection  with 
the  new  delimitations  of  territory  in  South  Germany,  conse- 
quent upon  Wagram,  the  portion  of  the  Black  Forest  to  which 
Konigsfeld  belonged  was  now  assigned  to  Baden.  Fortunately 
the  new  ruler  was  disposed  to  ratify  existing  concessions. 

Whilst  Barby  and  Gnadau  had  been  specially  aflfected  by  the 
operations  of  the  campaign  of  Jena,  other  settlements  had  also 
been  caused  to  severely  feel  the  stress  of  the  times.  Billetings 
of  troops  and  quarterings  of  various  officials  at  Christiansfeld, 
the  passage  of  several  thousand  Prussian  troops  through  Neu- 
dietendorf,  Prussian  and  Saxon  and  French  bivouacs  in  turn 
at  Ebersdorf — about  20,000  of  Napoleon's  men,  with  their 
leader  himslf  and  twenty  of  his  staff  being  accommodated  there 
for  several  days  in  October,  1806 — the  occasional  interrup- 
tion of  the  peace  at  Herrnhut,  Niesky  and  Kleinwelke,  together 
with  their  being  very  heavily  mulcted  to  furnish  the  sinews  of 
war,  requisitions  laid  upon  the  Silesian  congregations  in  1806 
and  1807,  and  the  humiliation  of  Berlin  in  1807  and  1808;  all 
these  experiences  taxed  the  resources  of  the  church  and  in- 
terfered with  its  life  and  usefulness.  That  the  brief  period  of 
rest  which  followed  the  treaty  of  Vienna  was  thankfully  re- 
ceived, may  well  be  understood.  But  it  was  of  very  short  dura- 
tion. Napoleon's  insatiable  ambition  hurried  him  into  one  of 
the  greatest  crimes  of  his  life,  on  which  retribution  waited,  and 
the  slumbering  national  consciousness  of  Germany  awoke  like 
the  arousing  of  a  giant  to  become  an  instrument  in  his  down- 
fall. The  dynastic  idea  led  the  "Man  of  destiny"  to  wring  from 
a  pliant  senate  and  a  specially  constituted  ecclesiastical  coun- 
cil a  decree  of  separation  from  his  wife.  Then  the  Austrian 
marriage  formed  the  prelude  to  the  disastrous  invasion  of 
Russia,  and  the  War  of  Liberation  followed. 

During  the  operations  in  Saxony  several  congregations  were 
dangerously  exposed.  In  February  and  March  of  1813  the 
hospital  of  the  Saxon  army  passed  through  Herrnhut,  and 
large  requisitions  were  made.  After  the  battle  of  Liitzen  more 
than  seven  hundred  wounded  were  cared  for  in  the  Brethren's 
House  alone.    Throughout  the  spring  and  summer  numerous 


THE  MORAVIAX  CHURCH. 


bodies  of  either  armj'  were  quartered  in  the  settlement,  Bliicher 
at  one  time  making  it  his  headquarters,  and  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  visiting  it  on  April  21.  But  although  the  burdens  were 
sufficiently  heavy,  no  actual  conflict  occurred  at  this  time  in 
the  immediate  vicinity. 

During  March,  April  and  May,  Niesky  was  laid  under  requi- 
sition to  supply  troops  with  provisions,  at  times  almost  daily ; 
the  Cossacks  signalized  themselves  by  their  extortions.  After 
the  battle  of  Bautzen  several  hundred  wounded  were  nursed 
here.  At  Kleinwelke  the  nearness  of  the  conflict  caused  intense 
anxiety.  Only  three  miles  from  Bautzen,  its  destruction  at  one 
time  seemed  inevitable.  "May  15  was  a  very  heavy  day.  The 
rumor  of  the  retreat  of  the  aUies  was  confirmed.  The  roads 
were  thronged  with  artillery  and  ammunition  wagons  and  troops 
of  every  description,  which  exposed  our  place  to  imminent 
danger.  In  the  afternoon  the  vanguard  of  the  French,  after  a 
victorious  attack  at  Gausig  and  Goede,  advanced  under  a  heavy 
cannonade  on  Salz  Foertgen,  only  a  mile  distant,  and  planted 
a  battery  on  a  neighboring  hill.  The  balls  whistled  through 
the  air,  and  many  fell  in  the  fields  close  to  the  settlement.  Ter- 
rified by  this  scene,  many  of  the  sisters  resolved  on  immediate 
flight,  hastily  bundled  up  some  clothes  and  provisions,  and  re- 
tired into  the  chapel  to  await  the  issue. 

"Scarcely  had  they  entered  this  sanctuary  when  two  men  be- 
longing to  a  plundering  party,  exasperated  by  the  delay,  pursued 
the  warden  of  the  congregation  into  his  house,  adjoining  the 
chapel.  He  fortunately  escaped  through  a  window.  Meeting 
his  wife  on  the  stairs,  they  robbed  her,  forced  their  way  into 
the  parlor  and  burst  open  the  bureau.  But  before  they  could 
secure  their  booty  two  brethren  succeeded  in  seizing  one  of 
them  and  breaking  the  sword  of  the  other. 

"This  and  some  similar  occurrences  induced  the  elders  of  the 
congregation  to  have  the  sick  and  infirm  conveyed  to  Radibor, 
three  miles  distant,  where  they  were  kindly  received  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  priest.  A  large  company  of  sisters  and  some 
families  went  the  next  day  to  the  same  village,  passing  without 
being  molested  through  the  Russian  and  Prussian  outposts. 
They  were  comfortably  accommodated  by  Lady  Von  Boese. 

"They  were  not  long  gone  before  the  French  occupied  a 
hill,  called  the  Wiewalze,  close  to  the  settlement,  placing  their 
foreposts  up  to  our  very  houses.    Several  officers  came  to  pro- 


308 


A  HISTORY  OF 


cure  provisions,  followed  by  great  numbers  of  soldiers,  com- 
plaining of  oppressive  want,  not  having  tasted  bread  for  four 
days.  They  dug  up  potatoes  and  turnips  and  ate  them  raw 
with  the  greatest  avidity.  Fifty  and  more  at  one  time  rushed 
into  one  house  and  seized  all  the  victuals  they  could  find.  We 
now  became  seriously  afraid  of  a  general  plunder,  especially 
when  observing  the  settlement  surrounded  by  a  bivouac  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  and  at  but  a  short  distance  an  army  of 
nearly  two  hundred  thousand,  occupying  a  line  twenty-four 
miles  in  length.  A  great  part  of  the  wood  belonging  to  the 
village  of  Welke  was  cut  down,  our  garden  fences,  and  even 
our  out-buildings  were  demohshed  to  serve  as  materials  for 
erecting  tents.  It  was  a  fearful  sight  to  see  four  thousand  men 
walking  silently  through  our  place  at  night,  laden  with  straw 
they  had  collected  in  the  neighboring  villages.  In  the  midst 
of  this  danger  a  circumstance  occurred,  which  at  any  other  time 
would  have  appeared  an  intolerable  burden,  but  now  proved  a 
real  benefit.  The  whole  staff  of  the  French  army,  commanded 
by  General  Bertrand,  consisting  of  twenty-two  generals  and 
above  two  hundred  officers,  was  quartered  upon  us,  though  our 
settlement  does  not  contain  forty  houses.  The  officers  behaved 
handsomely,  and  were  ready  by  day  and  by  night  to  do  their 
utmost  to  quell  disturbances. 

"On  the  i/th  the  danger  increased  The  large  camp-fires, 

kindled  in  the  bivouac  and  before  our  very  doors,  increased  our 
danger.  We  attributed  it  solely  to  the  protection  of  God  that 
our  houses  were  not  reduced  to  ashes,  for  our  predatory  guests 
examined  houses,  barns,  hay-lofts  and  cellars  with  lighted 
candles  and  firebrands.  A  report  was  spread  that  the  two 
armies  would  halt  and  come  to  an  engagement  here. 

"Cut  off  from' all  supplies,  in  the  center  of  a  camp  surrounding 
us  on  all  sides,  we  were  in  fear  of  soon  being  in  want  of  neces- 
saries. On  the  19th  at  noon  Bonaparte  suddenly  made  his 
appearance,  and  rode  with  incredible  speed  along  the  line  of  his 
troops,  which  extended  many  miles,  examining  the  disposition, 
and  giving  orders.  He  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the 
soldiers,  who  seemed  to  forget  all  their  hardships  as  soon  as 
they  saw  him. 

"A  continuous  and  heavy  cannonade  from  the  direction  of 
Konigswertha  commenced,  and  ended  in  Marshall  Ney's  corps 
joining  the  main  army,  which  completed  the  plan  for  battle. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


All  was  terror  and  confusion.  A  division  of  Wiirttembergers 
and  the  whole  corps  of  the  Duke  of  Tarentum  passed  through 
our  settlement.  Some  Brethren  who  served  as  guides  to  these 
troops  were  in  imminent  danger  of  their  lives,  being  sometimes 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight ;  yet  they  all  escaped  without  receiv- 
ing the  slightest  hurt.  The  camp  near  our  place  was  in  part 
evacuated ;  but  Napoleon  and  a  numerous  staff  remained  there 
till  after  midnight.  Colunms  of  troops  were  marching  across 
our  fruitful  fields,  and  treading  down  the  young  and  promising 
corn. 

"In  the  forenoon  of  the  20th  we  heard  distant  firing,  but  in 
our  immediate  vicinity  there  was  a  dead  silence.  Quite  unex- 
pectedly a  cannonade,  dreadful  beyond  description,  commenced 
at  noon,  about  three  miles  from  us.  The  ground  trembled,  the 
windows  shook,  and  the  very  air  was  agitated.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  the  bloody  battle  of  Bautzen.  We  could 
distinctly  see  the  firing  of  the  cannon,  the  movements  of  the 
regiments  and  every  change  in  the  position  of  the  combatants. 
In  the  evening  we  heard  the  French  had  gained  the  day.  Had 
they  been  defeated  and  obliged  to  retreat,  the  batteries  behind 
our  place  must  have  reduced  it  to  a  heap  of  ashes,  as  had  been 
the  fate  of  other  villages,  the  flames  and  smoke  of  which  filled 
the  air." 

Kleinwelke  had  then  to  accommodate  two  thousand  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers.  After  the  removal  of  the  hospital  strolling 
marauders  gave  annoyance  till  the  beginning  of  June. 

On  May  23  Gnadenberg,  in  the  line  of  the  retreat  of  the  allied 
army,  was  alarmed  by  reports  of  the  approach  of  the  French, 
and  most  of  the  people  fled.  The  vanguard  entered  next  day, 
and  about  thirty  thousand  troops  passed  through  in  forty-eight 
hours.  The  place  was  given  up  to  plunder  for  several  days. 
On  the  promulgation  of  the  armistice  quarters  were  required 
for  one  thousand  men.  In  the  preliminary  movements  of  the 
next  campaign  on  A.ugust  16  it  was  the  scene  of  a  contest  be- 
tween the  French  and  the  Russians,  during  which  much  damage 
was  done  to  property,  and  another  clash  of  arms  occurred 
nearby  on  the  21st.  After  the  second  action  the  French  troops 
wrought  furious  havoc. 

Though  threatened  with  distress  from  the  proximity  of  the 
Prussian  and  Russian  camps  of  200,000  men  during  the  armis- 
tice, the  headquarters  being  only  five  or  six  miles  away,  Gnaden- 


310 


A  HISTORY  OF 


frei  escaped  serious  damage.  Both  sovereigns  and  various  per- 
sons of  rank  honored  this  settlement  with  visits. 

Finally  the  crowning  contest  of  October  i6  to  19,  the  great 
battle  of  the  nations  at  Leipsic,  and  the  two  days'  engagement 
at  Hanau,  October  30  and  31,  turned  the  scales  permanently 
against  the  French.  Brilliant  strategy  and  desperate  courage 
could  not  avert  the  entrance  of  the  allies  into  Paris.  Abdica- 
tion, exile  at  Elba,  the  landing  at  Cannes,  and  the  "Hundred 
Days,"  with  Ligny,  Ouatre-Bras  and  Waterloo,  and  St.  Helena 
closed  the  tragic  drama  of  empire.    At  last  there  was  peace. 

Its  advent  gladdened  exhausted  Europe,  and  the  Brethren's 
congregations  had  as  great  cause  for  thankfulness  as  any. 
Apart  from  the  demoralizing  effects  of  incessant  war,  various 
settlements  had  been  seriously  affected  by  the  stagnation  in 
manufacture  and  trade,  as  well  as  by  the  direct  losses  and  bur- 
densome requisitions.  Many  private  families  were  impover- 
ished. Rixdorf  had  so  declined  that  in  181 1  it  had  been  com- 
bined with  Berlin.  Sarepta  had  lost  heavily  by  the  destruction 
of  its  house  in  Moscow  during  the  great  conflagration.  In  181 5 
the  debts  of  the  congregations  as  such  were  estimated  at  a  total 
of  $112,500. 

Meanwhile  death  had  been  active  in  the  church.  On  Novem- 
ber 22,  1808,  Jacob  Christopher  Duvernoy,  a  member  of  the 
governing  board  since  1797,  passed  away.  On  November  17, 
1809,  the  John  Frederick  Reichel,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
figures  of  the  post-Zinzendorfian  period,  followed  him  into  rest. 
The  next  to  be  taken  was  Bishop  Samuel  Liebisch,  on  Decem- 
ber 3,  and  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  their  colleague  Bishop 
John  Andrew  Hiibner  also  died.  Then  in  181 1  Frederick  Ru- 
dolph de  Watteville  and  Bishop  Jeremiah  Risler  were  called 
home,  on  January  1 1  and  August  23.  The  former,  the  husband 
of  Elizabeth,  youngest  daughter  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  who  died 
on  February  17,  1807,  had  been  a  member  of  the  Conference 
since  1785,  and  since  1798  the  chairman  of  its  financial  depart- 
ment, his  sound  judgment,  ripe  experience  and  even  tempera- 
ment being  most  valuable  in  recent  years.  With  his  death  the 
title  to  the  Zinzendorfian  estates  passed  to  two  unmarried  ladies, 
as  proprietors  for  the  church,  Countess  Charlotte  von  Einsiedel 
and  Henrietta  von  Tschirsky.  Bishop  John  Godfrey  Cunow 
now  became  President  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  and 
Bishops  Dober  of  Gnadenfrei  and  George  Henry  Loskiel  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Pennsylvania  were  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancies,  Richter,  Wied 
of  Surinam,  and  Fabricius  of  Zeist  having  previously  obtained 
seats  in  the  board.  But  Loskiel,  for  a  season  detained  in 
America,  soon  answered  a  most  imperative  summons,  and  ended 
his  career  in  the  western  world.  Nor  was  his  place  supplied 
before  the  meeting  of  the  next  synod,  as  little  as  was  that  of 
Charles  von  Forestier,  deposed  in  1812,  or  that  of  Geissler, 
who  died  in  1815.  From  that  year  the  Conference  was  consti- 
tuted of  but  ten  members. 

As  a  result  of  the  negotiations  of  the  "Holy  Alliance"  Prus- 
sia's territory  was  augmented,  and  now  Niesky,  Gnadau  and 
Neuwied  came  under  Prussian  dominion.  Though  Frederick 
WiHiam  III  refused  to  remit  military  service,  considered  by  him 
a  dtity  inseparable  from  citizenship,  assurance  was  given  of  his 
protection  and  favor.  A  similar  mark  of  esteem  came  from 
Czar  Alexander.  Unsolicited,  on  October  17,  1817,  he  pub- 
hshed  an  edict,  granting  the  Brethren  and  their  Diaspora  circles 
privileges  in  Livonia  and  Esthonia.  These  manifestations  of 
regard,  and  the  new  spirit  of  hopefulness  imparted  to  Germany 
by  the  peace  purchased  at  so  costly  a  price,  were  not  without 
a  good  effect.  As  a  contribution  to  the  forces  influencing  re- 
ligious thought,  and  as  a  counterpart  in  Germany  of  the  Peri- 
odical Accounts  in  Britain,  "Beitrdge  zur  Erhauung  aus  der  Bruder- 
Gemeine,"  edited  by  Christian  Frederick  Stuckelberger,  were 
issued  in  1817  and  1818.  Nevertheless  exclusivism  and  isolation 
had  gained  the  day,  as  contrasted  with  the  flexibihty,  universaHty 
and  syncretism  of  the  Zinzendorfian  period.  New  affiHations 
were  deprecated  and  shunned  rather  than  sought,  and  oppor- 
tunities even  in  the  Diaspora  activity  were  lost,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  field  in  the  Baltic  Provinces.  Contraction  rather 
than  expansion  was  characteristic,  if  the  field  of  foreign  missions 
be  left  out  of  the  count. 


312 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


THE  BRITISH  CONGREGATIONS.  DURING  THE  NAPOLEONIC  ERA. 

The  era  introduced  by  the  synod  of  1801  was  noteworthy  in 
Britain  for  increasing  interest  in  foreign  missions,  for  the 
founding  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  1804,  and 
zeal  for  better  Sabbath  observance.  It  was  also  a  period  ren- 
dered anxious  by  excessive  taxation,  a  consequence  of  the  wars, 
by  depression  in  commerce,  manufacture  and  trade,  by  riots 
directed  against  the  introduction  of  improved  machinery,  by 
agrarian  distress,  and  by  agitation  for  the  reform  of  the  "Poor 
Laws."  Within  the  sphere  of  the  Moravian  Church  itself  it  was 
a  time  rendered  memorable  by  the  manifestation  of  kindly  in- 
terest in  the  missions  of  the  church  on  the  part  of  members  of 
other  households  of  faith. 

As  far  back  as  the  disastrous  campaigns  of  the  continental 
war  and  especially  after  1812  and  1813,  when  the  losses  sustained 
by  the  church  appealed  to  the  sympathy  of  all  friends,  the  be- 
nevolence of  liberal  Christian  people  in  England  contributed  to 
relieve  the  most  pressing  necessities  thus  occasioned.  Mean- 
while the  stated  issue  of  the  Periodical  Accounts  had  been  enlarg- 
ing the  circle  of  friends.  At  length  a  number  took  steps  to  se- 
cure the  permanence  and  enlargement  of  the  assistance  which 
they  rendered  to  the  missionary  cause.  Thus  on  December  12, 
1817,  "The  London  Association  in  Aid  of  the  Missions  of  the 
United  Brethren"  came  into  existence,  destined  to  become  a 
very  important  factor  in  the  history  of  Moravian  Missions.  In 
the  first  year  its  contributions  amounted  to  more  than  $3,350. 

Presenting  as  it  does  a  spectacle  almost  unique,  a  combi- 
nation of  numbers  of  Christians  of  every  name  for  the  stated 
support  of  evangelization  amongst  the  heathen  carried  on  by 
one  division  of  the  church  as  such,  and  so  affording  ever  since 
its  establishment  a  noble  illustration  of  Christian  union,  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  its  annual  report  for  1818  are  of  special 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


value,  setting  forth  as  they  do  the  motives  and  designs  of  its 
founders : 

"When  the  conflicting  armies  overran  Germany  their  (Mora- 
vian) settlements  were  intruded  upon  and  utterly  impoverished ; 
other  sources  from  whence  their  missions  derived  their  largest 
supplies  were  destroyed  in  that  unhappy  country  which  was  the 
chief  seat  of  their  church.  Hence  an  appeal  became  necessary 
to  the  benevolence  of  other  Christians ;  for  on  one  hand  a  vast 
debt  was  incurred,  and  on  the  other  there  was  an  increasing  de- 
mand upon  the  church  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  many 
missionaries  laboring  in  the  different  stations,  and  to  provide 
for  those  who,  from  age  or  infirmity,  were  becoming  incapable 
of  further  exertion;  and  also  for  their  children,  for  whom  they 
could  not  make  provision  themselves,  having  expended  all  their 
time,  their  strength,  their  Hfe,  upon  the  work  of  the  mission. 

"The  appeal  was  made  at  length,  and  it  was  not  made  in  vain. 
By  various  contributions  the  debt  was  so  diminished  at  the  close 
of  the  last  year  that  it  was  supposed  not  to  exceed  (at  that  time) 
the  sum  of  five  thousand  pounds,  although  when  complete  ac- 
counts were  collected  from  their  widely  scattered  settlements 
(each  of  which  bears  a  part  in  the  supply  of  necessaries  for  the 
missions),  this  estimate  was  discovered  to  have  fallen  very  far 
short  of  the  fact. 

"It  was  under  the  impression  made  by  this  appeal  that  the 
London  Association  was  formed.  Its  object  was  to  excite  the 
attention  of  Christians  of  every  denomination,  to  labors,  so  val- 
uable, standing  so  much  in  need  of  support ;  and  to  gather  their 
willing  contributions.  In  prosecuting  this  object  your  com- 
mittee have  felt  the  importance  of  observing  caution  and  deli- 
cacy, lest  they  should  seem  officiously  to  interfere  with  the  con- 
cerns of  the  United  Brethren's  Church,  or  take  any  steps  which 
might  wound  the  feelings  of  its  members,  or  present  it  under 
a  false  character  to  the  world.  It  became,  therefore,  a  funda- 
mental principle  with  them,  that  the  whole  should  be  conducted 
Avith  as  much  privacy  as  possible,  that  no  interference  whatever 
should  take  place  in  anything  relating  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
United  Brethren ;  nor  any  documents  be  printed  without  the 
full  concurrence  of  their  Society  for  the  Furthering  of  the  Gos- 
pel among  the  Heathen.  On  this  principle  they  have  uniformly 
proceeded  and  have  recommended  the  same  in  case  any  asso- 
ciation for  a  similar  purpose  may  be  formed  in  union  with  them. 


314 


A  HISTORY  OF 


as  the  only  ground  on  which  they  can  cooperate.  For  the 
assistance  of  such  friends  of  the  cause  as  may  wish  to  associate 
for  the  above  purpose,  an  outHne  of  the  necessary  rules  is 
added. 

Rules  of  the  London  Association,  in  Aid  of  the  Missions  of  the  United 

Brethren. 

"I.  All  persons  subscribing  annually  one  guinea,  or  collecting 
sixpence  per  week,  shall  be  members  of  this  Association. 

"II.  Benefactors  of  ten  guineas  and  upwards,  and  ministers 
making  congregational  collections  to  the  amount  of  twenty 
guineas,  and  executors  paying  bequests  of  fifty  pounds,  shall  be 
life-members. 

"III.  The  Committee  shall  consist  of  all  ministers  who  are 
members,  and  of  twenty  others  to  be  chosen  out  of  the  lay- 
members  of  the  Association  annually  in  the  month  of  October, 
who  shall  hold  their  meetings  on  the  second  Friday  of  each 
alternate  month,  which  shall  be  open  to  the  attendance  of  any 
member  of  the  Association ;  three  members  of  the  Committee 
attending  shall  constitute  a  quorum,  and  it  shall  be  in  the  power 
of  the  Committee  to  meet  more  frequently,  if  judged  expedient 
by  them. 

"IV.  That  the  whole  of  the  Funds  obtained  (after  deducting 
incidental  expenses),  shall  be  remitted  to  the  Conductors  of  the 
Missions  of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren,  commonly  called 
Moravians. 

"V.  All  members  shall  receive,  gratis,  a  copy  of  the  Periodical 
reports  of  the  Missions  of  the  United  Brethren." 

Circumstances  rather  than  the  previous  formulation  of  a  set- 
tled policy  led  to  the  second  feature  of  the  life  of  the  church  in 
Britain  during  this  period.  Napoleon's  decrees  of  Milan  and 
Berlin  rendered  intercourse  between  the  Continent  and  Britain 
exceedingly  uncertain.  Communications  between  the  govern- 
ing board  in  Berthelsdorf  and  their  assistants  in  England,  as 
well  as  the  rare  instances  of  personal  intercourse,  were  under 
the  necessity  of  utilizing  a  costly  and  circuitous  route  via  Copen- 
hagen and  Gothenburg.  Hence  a  measure  of  independence 
followed,  Thomas  Moore  and  William  Foster  being  Provincial 
Helpers  in  England  with  Hartley  as  their  colleague  in  Ireland. 

A  seminary  for  the  training  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  was 
opened  at  Fulneck,  October  12,  1808,  with  Henry  Steinhauer  as 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


principal — a  measure  approved  by  Verbeek  and  Forestier  when 
on  their  return  from  America. 

Often  it  was  impossible  for  the  British  Provincial  Helpers  to 
consult  with  the  Conference  in  Saxony  previous  to  filling  a  minis- 
terial appointment.  Hence  larger  discretionary  powers  were 
assumed. 

Under  Reichel  as  director,  the  two  schools  at  Fulneck  enjoyed 
especial  prosperity.  Wellhouse  (Mirfield)  founded  in  1801  for 
boys,  Bedford  in  the  same  year  for  girls,  Ockbrook  in  1813  for 
boys,  testified  to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  educational  move- 
ment in  England ;  and  Gracefield  school  for  girls  and  Gracehill 
school  for  boys,  both  founded  in  1805,  were  the  fruit  of  similar 
endeavor  in  the  sister  isle. 

Congregational  Hfe  fluctuated.    In  1806  Baildon,  eight  miles 
away,  across  the  Aire  and  perched  on  the  clif?s  at  the  edge  of  the 
heather-clad  solitudes  of  Rumbles  Moor  stretching  across  to  the 
valley  of  the  Wharfe,  an  outpost  of  Pudsey  in  the  old  days  of 
itineracy  before  Fulneck  had  arisen,  received  a  place  of  worship, 
and  ten  years  afterwards  became  a  distinct  congregation.  Jilan- 
chester  chapel  had  been  abandoned  in  1800,  but  preaching  was 
commenced  at  Greenside,  as  an  outstation  of  Fairfield,  in  1807 
— to  be  given  up  in  1809,  because  the  place  of  worship  could  no 
longer  be  had.    In  181 1  Pudsey  was  combined  with  Fulneck. 
In  the  Midlands  a  permanent  advance  was  made.     About  a 
dozen  miles  north  of  Bedford,  in  the  midst  of  rviral  quaintness 
and  simplicity,  rise  the  magnificent  trees  of  Kimbolton  Park, 
dominated  by  the  towers  of  Kimbolton  Castle,  famous  for  its 
melancholy  association  with  the  first  unfortimate  queen  of  Henry 
VIII.    Just  beyond  the  Bedfordshire  border  of  the  park  is  the 
little  village  of  Pertenhall.     Here  John  King  Martyn,  first 
curate,  then  rector  of  the  parish,  afterwards  minister  and  finally 
bishop  of  the  Moravian  Church,  warmly  evangelical  in  his  prin- 
ciples, was  at  this  time  in  sympathy  with  the  work  of  the  Breth- 
ren.   In  his  house,  "the  Httle  House  on  the  Hill,"  the  first  re- 
ligious service  under  Moravian  auspices  in  this  vicinity  was  held 
on  August  19,  1809.    Out  of  it  a  congregation  came  into  exist- 
ence, obtaining  its  first  place  of  worship  in  1823,  and  in  time 
several  fiHals  were  organized.    From  Woodford,  in  the  vigor 
of  its  youth,  branched  out  Priors  Marston,  the  first  place  of 
worship  being  consecrated  by  Bishop  Traneker  on  September 
26,  1806;  Culworth,  near  by,  consecrated  its  chapel  on  Novem- 


3i6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ber  15,  1809.  In  the  south  of  England,  the  society  at  Plymouth, 
whose  beginnings  had  resulted  from  Caldwell's  itineracies  in 
1768  after  his  return  from  Scotland,  in  May,  1805,  was  organized 
by  Bishop  Moore  into  a  regular  congregation  with  Ralph  Shuf- 
flebotham  as  its  pastor.  Pendine  chapel,  in  Wales,  was  dedi- 
cated by  Moore  in  the  autumn  of  1812. 

Ireland's  distress  from  the  effects  of  repeated  insurrections 
and  the  consequence  of  the  wars  did  not  cease  with  the  Act  of 
Union.  All  the  energy  of  a  man  like  Hartley  was  needed  to 
merely  hold  existing  enterprises.  When  he  could  write  in  his 
diary,  in  1805,  respecting  the  chapel  at  Ballymena,  "It  held  300, 
and  was  sold  for  a  trifle,"  this  man  of  aggressive  vigor  must 
have  felt  many  a  thorn  in  his  side.  He  and  his  associates  were 
not  the  men  to  merely  fold  their  hands  and  lament  the  lost  oppor- 
tunities of  the  past;  but  his  early  death,  in  his  fiftieth  year,  on 
June  27,  181 1,  proved  a  serious  loss.  Traugott  Benade  was 
called  in  his  place  to  Gracehill.  Though  Kilkeel,  amidst  the 
mountains  of  Mourne,  was  abandoned  in  1817,  the  home  mis- 
sionary spirit  was  vigorously  manifested  with  Gracehill  as  a 
center  of  activity. 

Thirty  preaching-places  were  statedly  served  by  the  itinerants 
in  181 5.  Old  affiliations  were  revived,  and  former  connections 
renewed.  At  Grange  a  chapel  was  built.  But  all  this  vigorous 
revival  of  the  old  spirit  was  unattended  with  results  commen- 
surate with  the  amount  of  energy  expended. 


THK  .MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


3»7 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA  DURING  THE  OPENING  YEARS  OF  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

Bishop  Ettwein  died  at  Bethlehem  on  January  2,  1802,  and 
Frederick  William  von  Marschall  at  Salem  on  February  11. 
Bishop  George  Henry  Loskiel,  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  clergyman 
in  Courland,  who  had  been  educated  at  Barby  and  had  held 
various  positions  in  the  church  in  Germany  since  1765,  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  afifairs  in  the  North.  His  chief  colleague 
was  John  Gebhard  Cunow.  In  the  South,  Bishop  Charles  Gott- 
hold  Reichel  and  Christian  Lewis  Benzien  and  Simon  Peter 
were  the  Provincial  Helpers,  all  men  of.  European  birth  and 
training. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Loskiel  a  conference  of  ministers, 
thirty-six  in  number,  was  convened  at  Bethlehem.  Remaining 
in  session  from  October  8  to  30,  1802,  it  reviewed  the  various 
phases  of  life  in  the  congregations.  Placid  absence  of  desire 
for  a  far-reaching  policy  centered  attention  upon  the  adjust- 
ment of  arrangements  to  meet  the  regulations  of  the  Unity  as 
such.  Yet  two  important  measures  were  adopted,  one  of  local 
the  other  of  general  significance.  The  first  was  the  erection  of 
a  new  and  for  existing  conditions  an  immense  church  at  Beth- 
lehem. The  second  was  the  establishment  of  a  theological  sem- 
inary, advocated  especially  by  Benzien.  By  the  incessant  wars 
of  recent  times  communication  with  Europe,  and  with  it  reli- 
ance upon  the  European  institutions  of  the  church  for  a  supply 
of  ministers,  had  been  rendered  precarious.  The  actual  execu- 
tion of  the  plan  was  delayed  until  the  arrival  of  Charles  von 
Forestier  and  John  Renattis  Verbeek,  commissioned  by  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference  to  pay  an  official  visit  in  1806.  By 
them,  on  October  3,  1807,  Ernest  Lewis  Hazelius  and  John 
Christian  Bechler  were  inducted  as  professors  in  the  theological 
seminary  organized  in  modest  proportions  in  connection  with 


3i8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  school  for  boys  at  Nazareth.  Humble  though  the  begin- 
nings were,  the  actual  founding  of  a  divinity  school  involved  an 
important  preparatory  step  in  the  direction  of  provincial  inde- 
pendence. A  school  for  girls  and  young  women  was  founded 
at  Salem  in  1804,  and  a  new  building  was  completed  for  the  simi- 
lar institution  at  Lititz,  begun  in  1794. 

But  the  period  was  one  of  retrogression.  In  the  cities  and 
in  the  South  the  transition  from  German  to  English  was  at- 
tended with  the  perplexities  that  must  be  faced  by  every  biUn- 
gual  church.  The  country  congregations  in  the  North  suflfered 
through  the  removal  of  members  to  larger  centers  of  popula- 
tion and  the  lack  of  provision  to  follow  them  up.  In  Pennsyl- 
vania Donegal,  and  in  New  Jersey  Hope  and  Woolwich  were 
abandoned.  Gnadenthal,  Christianspring  and  Friedensthal  were 
merged  into  Nazareth.  The  people  of  Gnadenhiitten  on  the 
Mahoni  had  removed  to  Beersheba,  across  the  river  from  the 
new  Gnadenhiitten  in  Ohio.  Of  new  enterprises  mention  can 
be  made  only  of  Sharon,  near  Goshen,  in  Ohio,  in  181 5,  begun 
through  the  efforts  of  Jacob  BHckensderfer.  The  hampering 
regulations  which  obtained,  and  especially  the  excessive  re- 
course to  the  lot  repelled  rather  than  attracted  new  members. 

In  181 1  Bishop  Loskiel,  recalled  to  Europe  by  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference,  retired  from  his  American  office,  but  did  not 
at  once  leave  Bethlehem.  Next  year  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment as  a  member  of  the  Conference,  but  was  unable  to  set  out 
on  account  of  the  war  and  his  own  declining  health.  After  a 
protracted  illness,  he  died  at  Bethlehem  on  April  9,  1814.  His 
memory  is  perpetuated  by  his  history  of  the  missions  amongst 
the  Indians. 

Charles  Gotthold  Reichel  had  been  transferred  from  the 
South,  and  was  President  of  the  Helpers'  Conference  until  1817. 
Bishop  John  Herbst,  who  filled  the  corresponding  position  at 
Salem,  was  succeeded  by  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  consecrated  a  bishop 
at  Bethlehem  on  May  2,  181 5. 

At  length  in  1817  premonitions  of  a  new  era  appeared.  Con- 
ferences were  convened  to  discuss  changes  requisite  to  the 
health  and  prosperity  of  the  American  congregations.  That  at 
Bethlehem  on  June  9  consisted  of  twelve  ministers  and  thirteen 
delegates  of  the  "settlement"  congregations.  Bishop  Reichel 
presided.  Practical  unanimity  of  views  was  disclosed.  On 
June  21  a  recess  was  taken  until  August  4.    In  the  interval  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Provincial  Helpers  and  three  official  representatives  from  Beth- 
lehem and  Nazareth  met  the  pastors  and  eleven  delegates  of 
the  remaining  churches  in  the  North.  At  Salem  a  similar  gath- 
ering had  been  in  session  in  May. 

When  the  requests  of  the  conference  of  the  settlement  con- 
gregations are  considered,  they  appear  to  scarcely  warrant  the 
judgment  pronounced  upon  them  in  Europe:  "In  den  Nord- 
amerikanischen  Gcmeincn  eine  nationale  Frciheitsliebe,  Unhist  an 
willkiihrlichen  Verfasswigscinrichtungen,  Lust  alles  abziischaifen, 
und  neues  einsurichten."  The  following  were  the  main  amend- 
ments sought :  the  abolition  of  the  Sprechen ;  abrogation  of  the 
inhibition  of  military  service ;  release  of  the  President  of  the 
Helpers'  Conference  from  the  duties  of  any  other  office ;  em- 
powerment of  the  Helpers'  Conference  to  make  appointments 
without  previous  consultation  with  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, with  the  proviso  that  existing  rights  of  appeal  to  the 
highest  board  shall  not  thereby  be  annulled ;  pastors  to  be  no 
longer  connected  with  the  oversight  of  the  temporal  affairs  of  a 
congregation,  whose  committee  shall  be  elected  without  re- 
course to  the  lot ;  the  congregation-council  to  be  composed  of 
all  male  communicants  of  legal  age  and  in  good  and  regular 
standing ;  the  abrogation  of  the  use  of  the  lot  in  connection  with 
applications  for  membership,  in  connection  with  marriage,  and 
in  connection  with  the  appointment  of  American  delegates 
to  the  general  synod ;  the  guaranteeing  that  at  least  one  mem- 
ber in  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  shall  be  personally 
acquainted  with  the  American  congregations.  Though  dealing 
with  non-essentials  rather  than  essentials,  these  requests  ex- 
erted a  decided  influence  upon  the  general  synod  summoned  for 
June  of  the  next  year. 

During  the  opening  years  of  the  century  the  Indian  missions 
were  prosecuted  with  vigor.  But  the  bright  outlook  on  the 
White  River  was  speedily  darkened.  Upon  the  death  of  the 
chief  who  had  been  their  friend  and  protector,  and  after  the 
deposition  of  his  similarly  disposed  successor,  the  missionaries 
had  to  encounter  all  the  opposition  and  all  the  machinations  of 
rum-sellers  and  other  foes  of  the  gospel,  who  with  the  medicine- 
men stirred  up  the  latent  hostility  of  the  heathen.  During  the 
year  1805  they  became  aware  that  their  lives  were  in  actual 
danger.  A  certain  Shawnese  stranger  who  had  ingratiated  him- 
self amongst  the  tribe,  claimed  that  he  could  detect  the  arts  of 


320 


A  HISTORY  OF 


those  who  practiced  witchcraft  and  poisoning ;  hidden  mysteries 
were  open  to  him.  A  council  was  called  before  which  those 
whom  he  accused  should  be  compelled  by  torture  to  make  con- 
fession, recalcitrants  to  receive  the  blows  of  war-hatchets  and 
then  be  burnt.  The  first  to  be  accused  before  the  hellish  assem- 
bly was  old  chief  Tettepachsit.  He  had  nothing  to  acknowledge. 
So  the  inquisitors  fastened  him  by  cords  to  two  posts  and  began 
to  roast  him  at  a  slow  fire.  Agony  forced  from  his  blistering 
Hps  a  lie  of  despair — that  he  kept  poison  in  the  house  of 
Joshua,  the  missionaries'  interpreter.  On  March  13,  1806, 
seven  painted  Indians  dragged  Joshua  from  the  mission  by  main 
force.  The  converts  had  fled ;  some  were  compelled  to  abet  the 
malicious  cruelty.  When  confronted  with  the  prisoner,  Tette- 
pachsit admitted  that  he  had  accused  him  only  to  pacify  his  tor- 
turers, and  declared  that  Joshua  was  innocent.  The  Shawnese 
asserted  that  although  Joshua  had  no  poison,  he  had  a  familiar 
spirit  by  whose  means  he  destroyed  other  Indians.  On  the 
evening  of  the  16th  word  reached  the  missionaries,  that  an  aged 
convert  named  Caritas  had  been  burnt.  Next  day  a  howling 
mob,  with  blackened  faces  dragged  old  Tettepachsit  to  the  mis- 
sion, lit  a  huge  fire,  and  wounding  him  on  the  head  with  a  hat- 
chet, cast  him  ahve  into  the  flames,  the  while  they  diverted  them- 
selves with  the  convulsions  and  cries  of  the  miserable  victim. 
The  flames  of  his  pyre  kindled  the  grass  and  brush  nearby  and 
filled  the  mission  with  the  smoke.  Around  the  missionaries  the 
frenzied  furies  danced.  Several  hundred  miles  from  friends, 
and  agonized  by  the  probable  fate  of  Joshua,  they  expected  the 
worst.  Then  the  murderers  burst  into  their  dwelling  and  de- 
manded bread  and  tobacco.  Giving  these,  they  interceded  for 
Joshua,  but  to  no  effect.  That  same  day  the  martyr,  enduring 
torture  by  the  aid  of  prayer,  perished  in  the  flames.  For  a  time 
Kluge  and  his  wife  and  Luckenbach  maintained  their  post  amid 
days  and  nights  of  terror.  At  last  it  was  made  clear  to  them 
that  duty  no  longer  demanded  a  useless  risk.  With  great  diffi- 
culty they  made  their  escape,  and  after  many  hardships  found 
refuge  in  the  settlements  on  the  Tuscarawas.  Perforce  the 
western  mission  was  abandoned. 

In  the  autumn  of  1803  Bishop  Loskiel  paid  an  official  visit  to 
Goshen,  and  a  renewal  of  the  mission  at  New  Salem  was  re- 
solved upon.  Accordingly  Oppelt  and  John  Benjamin  Haven 
proceeded  to  the  Petquotting  early  in  1804.    But  a  sad  reverse 


DAVID  ZEISBERGER. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


321 


was  again  experienced.  Drunkenness  amongst  the  Indians  was 
industriously  promoted  by  traders  and  by  unscrupulous  white 
settlers,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  them  when  intoxicated. 
The  damaging  consequences  of  this  solicitation,  successfully 
pursued  especially  when  the  people  were  scattered  through  the 
maple  forests  for  the  manufacture  of  sugar,  were  very  far- 
reaching.  The  carousals  begat  a  spirit  of  heathenish  repudia- 
tion of  all  restraint.  Inner  corruption  began  to  work  what  ex- 
ternal persecution  alone  could  never  have  effected. 

This  was  the  case  both  at  Goshen  and  the  Chippeway  mis- 
sion. The  latter  proved  a  failure.  All  these  distressing  features 
became  a  source  of  deep  grief  to  the  aged  Zeisberger.  His  end 
was  fast  approaching.  At  the  age  of  eighty-seven,  and  after  a 
most  remarkable  career  of  sixty-two  years  of  missionary  ser- 
vice, he  was  called  to  rest  and  reward  on  November  17,  1808. 
During  these  years  of  toil  he  had  itinerated  amongst  his 
"brown  hearts"  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Michigan  and  Canada.  Mohicans,  Wam- 
panoags,  Nanticokes,  Shawnese,  Chippeways,  Ottawas,  Wyan- 
dots,  Unamis,  Unalachtgos,  Muncies,  Onondagas,  Cayugas  and 
Senecas  had  been  the  recipients  of  his  message.  He  was  fluent 
in  the  Delaware,  Mohawk  and  Onondaga  tongues,  and  was 
familiar  with  many  other  Indian  dialects.  The  translation  of 
the  Bible  and  of  the  Moravian  Hymn-book  and  Liturgy  into  the 
Delaware,  the  compilation  of  a  German-Delaware  lexicon,  and 
the  composition  of  Onondaga  and  Delaware  grammars  formed 
only  a  part  of  his  literary  labors.  He  had  led  hundreds  of  sav- 
ages to  live  a  consistent  Christian  life.  By  his  counsels  the 
Delawares  had  been  restrained  from  jdelding  to  the  solicita- 
tions of  Indians  in  British  pay,  when  the  fate  of  the  Colonies 
was  uncertain.  Sad  it  is,  that  his  mighty  energy,  signal  ability 
and  unquenchable  devotion  were  so  largely  neutralized  by  the 
folly,  the  selfishness  and  the  sin  of  white  men. 

The  War  of  181 2  broke  in  upon  the  charming  pastoral  life  at 
Fairfield  in  Canada,  and  caused  the  cessation  of  the  work  oh 
the  Sandusky.  When  Detroit  was  occupied  by  the  American 
army  under  General  Harrison,  it  was  perceived  that  Fairfield 
would  soon  be  untenable.  But  whilst  arrangements  were  being 
made  to  abandon  the  place,  the  church  was  transformed  into  a 
British  hospital,  in  which  seventy  wounded  were  at  once  re- 
ceived. On  October  3,  1813,  General  Proctor  announced  his 
22 


322 


A  HISTORY  OF 


intention  to  fortify  the  place.  The  Indian  congregation  had 
meanwhile  taken  to  the  woods.  On  the  5th  the  Battle  of  the 
Thames  was  fought  about  two  miles  away.  It  was  now 
charged,  though  the  proofs  did  not  accompany  the  charge,  that 
some  of  the  Fairfield  Indians  had  been  impHcated  in  a  massacre 
on  the  Raisin,  and  the  victorious  American  general,  mistaking 
the  character  of  the  place,  gave  the  mission  to  pillage  and  the 
flames.  Not  a  house  was  left  standing.  Michael  Jung,  old  and 
infirm,  accompanied  by  Schnall,  and  their  families,  toiled  back 
to  Bethlehem  heart-broken,  and  Denke,  the  third  missionary, 
wandered  with  the  scattered  converts  in  the  woods,  putting  up 
temporary  homes  now  here,  now  there.  Attacked  and  plun- 
dered by  Kickapoo  and  Shawnese  bands,  he  was  cut  oflf  from 
communications  with  his  brethren  for  a  couple  of  years.  Not 
till  the  close  of  the  war  did  the  converts  dare  to  return  with  him 
to  Fairfield.  In  1815  it  was  rebuilt  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Thames,  and  soon  numbered  about  thirty  houses,  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty  Christian  and  forty-seven  heathen  inhab- 
itants. 

Meantime  Goshen  had  seen  its  best  days.  Steadily  the  nat- 
ural increase  of  the  white  population  and  the  enlargement  of 
the  land  under  cultivation,  with  the  ensuing  competition  in  prim- 
itive industries,  rendered  the  conditions  of  life  more  and  more 
unfavorable  for  the  Indians.  Therefore  New  Fairfield  became 
the  Christian  Indians'  Mecca. 

In  the  South  on  the  other  hand  satisfactory  progress  was 
being  made  by  the  new  mission.  In  1807  its  extension  into  the 
country  of  the  Creeks  was  attempted.  Karsten  Petersen  and 
John  Christian  Burghardt  set  out  from  Salem  for  Flint  River, 
near  Milledgeville.  John  F.  Holland  joined  them  as  an  assist- 
ant in  1810.  But  five  years  afterwards  this  post  was  given  up. 
In  the  Cherokee  mission  several  changes  had  taken  place. 
Steiner  had  returned,  and  Jacob  Wohlfarth,  his  successor,  had 
died  in  1807.  John  Gambold  had  gone  out  in  1805.  A  school 
had  been  early  established  at  Springplace,  and  the  mission  was 
solidly  advancing.  With  regard  to  the  Christian  Cherokees  it 
could  be  reported:  "The  men  are  altogether  of  the  first  re- 
spectability in  the  nation,  and  as  such,  during  the  late  embassy 
to  Washington,  have  done  honor  not  only  to  the  Gospel  but  to 
the  capacity  and  good  sense  of  the  aborigines."  Disinterested 
testimony  was  further  borne  by  the  Abbe  de  Serra,  in  his  ac- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


count  of  his  tour  in  the  United  States,  as  follows :  "Judge  of 
my  surprise,  in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness,  to  find  a  botanic 
garden,  not  indeed  Hke  that  at  Paris,  or  yours  at  Kew;  but  a 
botanic  garden,  containing  many  exotic  and  medicinal  plants, 
the  professor,  Mrs.  Gambold,  describing  them  by  their  Linnean 
names.  Your  missionaries  here  taught  me  more  of  the  nature 
of  the  manner  of  promulgating  civilization  and  reUgion  in  the 
early  ages  by  the  missionaries  from  Rome,  than  all  the  pon- 
derous volumes  which  I  have  read  on  the  subject.  I  there  saw 
the  sons  of  a  Cherokee  Regulus  learning  their  lesson,  and  read- 
ing their  New  Testament  in  the  morning,  and  drawing  and 
painting  in  the  afternoon,  though,  to  be  sure,  in  a  very  Cherokee 
style ;  and  assisting  Mrs.  Gambold  in  her  household  woi"k  or  Mr. 
Gambold  in  planting  corn.  Precisely  so  in  the  forests  of  Ger- 
many or  France,  a  Clovis  or  a  Bertha  laid  aside  their  crowns, 
and  studied  in  the  hut  of  a  St.  Martin  or  another  missionary." 


324 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XL. 


THE  FOREIGN   MISSION'S,   FROM   THEIR  JUBILEE  TO   THE  SYNOD 

OF  1818. 

An  era  of  general  war  is  never  favorable  to  missionary  opera- 
tions. Now  the  blockade  of  continental  ports  by  British  naval 
squadrons,  exchange  of  cannon  shots  with  privateers,  and  in 
several  cases  actual  capture,  had  to  be  taken  into  account  when 
men  were  sent  forth.  All  ordinary  means  of  intercourse  with 
distant  colonies  sometimes  failed.  Colonies  exchanged  mas- 
ters, and  therewith  the  legal  status  of  the  church  was  altered  and 
new  requirements  had  to  be  complied  with.  Financial  losses 
were  frequent. 

In  Greenland  the  missionaries  received  refninders  of  the  rigor 
of  the  region.  The  age  of  adventure  had  not  passed.  During 
the  intensely  cold  weather  of  three  months  of  the  year  1793 
through  lack  of  even  their  usual  unsatisfactory  source  of  fuel, 
drift-wood  and  scrubby  brush,  the  missionaries  were  reduced  to 
the  train-oil  lamps  of  the  natives  as  a  source  of  heat.  On  June 
10,  1794,  two  missionaries  left  New  Herrnhut  for  a  neighboring 
island,  where  they  hoped  to  procure  wood  but  were  shut  in  by 
the  ice.  For  almost  one  month  they  found  it  impossible  to  make 
their  way  home,  nor  could  provisions  be  brought  to  them.  After 
encountering  many  dangers  and  supporting  life  by  catching  fish, 
they  at  last  reached  home  on  July  8.  In  1798  Jacob  Beck  and 
his  wife  after  a  long  and  stormy  voyage  from  Copenhagen,  had 
a  narrow  escape  from  the  ice  whilst  on  the  way  from  Friederich- 
shaab  at  Lichtenau.  John  George  Grillich  left  Julianenhaab  for 
Copenhagen  on  October  4,  1798.  When  only  fairly  out  to  sea, 
the  ship  had  to  put  back  on  account  of  the  ice.  Two  weeks  later 
another  attempt  was  made  to  set  sail ;  but  after  five  weeks  of 
hopeless  tacking  hither  and  thither,  was  again  driven  back  by 
the  ice,  this  time  in  a  damaged  condition.    In  February,  1799, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


another  attempt  was  made  to  put  to  sea,  but  from  the  i8th  to  the 
25th  the  ice  completely  shut  in  the  ship,  after  she  had  barely 
missed  shipwreck  on  a  sunken  reef.  Now  the  captain  gave  orders 
for  her  abandonment.  A  weary  march  over  the  ice  followed.  Two 
nights  were  spent  without  shelter,  and  water  was  to  be  had  only 
by  melting  snow.  Scarcely  was  the  desolate  shore  of  Green- 
land reached,  when  a  terrific  storm  arose.  Not  until  October 
29,  and  after  many  adventures  did  Grillich  reach  Copenhagen. 
In  1804  and  1805  these  experiences  were  practically  repeated 
by  Christian  David  Rudolph  and  his  wife. 

The  conflict  between  Denm.ark  and  Britain,  until  the  block- 
ade was  relieved  in  181 1,  meant  peculiar  distress.  In  1808  the 
British  government,  indeed,  in  a  spirit  of  true  humanity  fitted 
out  two  ships  for  Greenland.  But  the  larger  of  these  was  lost 
in  the  ice,  and  was  the  one  destined  for  the  portion  of  the  coun- 
try where  the  Moravian  stations  were  situated.  Flour  became 
very  scarce.  Tobacco,  the  common  medium  of  exchange,  and 
powder  and  shot  were  quite  exhausted.  In  May,  181 1,  Henry 
Menzel  wrote :  "No  ships  arrived  in  Greenland  last  year.  We 
liave  therefore  not  received  any  provisions  from  Europe,  nor 
does  it  appear  that  we  should  receive  any  this  year ;  and  if  not, 
there  is  little  prospect  for  us  left,  but  that  we  must  die  of  famine 
and  distress  of  mind ;  for  no  European  can  subsist  on  what  the 
Greenlanders  eat,  without  bread.  The  consequences  soon  ap- 
pear in  a  dysentery  which  carries  the  patient  oflf  in  a  short 
time.  . .  .For  these  three  years  past  we  have  not  received  any 
seeds,  and  this  year  we  can  sow  nothing  in  our  gardens."  The 
very  clothing  of  the  missionaries  began  to  give  out.  But  at 
last,  on  August  16,  1812,  to  their  intense  relief  the  Danish  ship 
Fredeii  arrived  with  goods  of  all  kinds  sufficient  to  meet  all  needs 
for  two  years.  It  had  been  sent  from  London  by  the  Society 
for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  a  license  having  been  pro- 
cured which  permitted  a  Danish  vessel  to  proceed  from  Copen- 
hagen via  Leith  for  the  express  purpose  of  relieving  the  mission. 

John  Conrad  Kleinschmidt  who  had  now  completed  nineteen 
years  of  service  in  Greenland,  and  had  recently  lost  his  wife, 
took  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  return  to  Europe  with  his 
children  and  the  widowed  sister  Walder.  They  set  sail  on 
September  2.  On  the  29th  the  Fredcn  was  struck  by  lightning 
during  a  tremendous  storm.  The  bolt  killed  one  of  the  sailors 
and  stunned  another.    For  three  days  and  two  nights  the  ship 


326 


A  HISTORY  OF 


drove  helplessly  before  the  wind.  For  a  week  the  whole  com- 
pany were  put  on  a  short  allowance  of  water.  Leith  was  at  last 
reached  on  November  lo.  In  two  weeks  Kleinschmidt's  young- 
est child  died  from  the  hardships  experienced.  Nevertheless 
after  his  furlough  this  hero  was  ready  to  go  back  to  Greenland. 

John  Godfrey  Gorke,  detained  for  a  while  in  Europe  by  the 
war,  in  March,  1813,  left  Copenhagen  with  his  family  and  two 
other  missionaries  to  return  to  his  former  sphere  of  labor.  The 
Danish  vessel  in  which  they  sailed,  the  Hvalfiskcn,  had  been  duly 
licensed  by  the  British  to  carry  provisions  to  the  dreary  land 
of  bergs.  With  the  messengers  to  Greenland  there  voyaged 
also  a  party  of  missionaries  destined  for  the  West  Indies  via 
England.  In  mid-channel  between  Denmark  and  Norway  Cap- 
tain Cathcart  of  the  Alexandria  frigate  brought  the  Danish  ves- 
sel to,  and  pronounced  the  Hcense  invalid.  Not  till  April  5 
were  they  permitted  to  weigh  anchor  for  Leith.  Five  weary 
weeks  were  required  for  the  passage  from  the  Scotch  port  to 
Greenland.  Then  their  Captain,  Lindber,  contrary  to  agree- 
ment, instead  of  landing  them  at  Lichtenfels  or  New  Herrn- 
hut,  where  there  was  every  facility  for  unloading,  carried  them 
to  Godhaven  on  Disco  Bay.  Thence  they  had  to  coast  back 
about  600  miles  to  New  Herrnhut,  from  which  station  Klein- 
schmidt  and  his  wife  had  yet  another  500  miles  in  an  umiak  be- 
fore making  Lichtenau.  Twice  during  the  four  months  of 
voyaging  along  the  rocky  and  dangerous  coast,  did  the  delicate 
Europan  woman  faint  from  fatigue. 

In  1817  John  Frederick  Kranich,  returning  for  a  visit  at  home 
after  twelve  years  of  work,  was  lost  at  sea,  the  ship  foundering 
with  all  on  board. 

Such  were  some  of  the  episodes  which  gave  variety  to  the 
often  monotonous  round  of  missionary  toil  in  Greenland.  But 
it  was  undertaken  none  the  less  willingly,  nor  did  it  go  without 
reward.  The  population  in  the  districts  about  the  older  sta- 
tions had  become  nominally  Christian.  Lichtenau  alone  af- 
forded opportunity  for  contact  with  utterly  pagan  barbarians. 
Here  baptisms  repeatedly  occurred.  Meantime  Jasper  Broder- 
sen  besides  translating  portions  of  the  Scriptures  comenced  to 
render  into  the  Eskimo  the  liturgies  of  the  church,  which  were 
preliminarily  printed  at  New  Herrnhut.  Henry  Menzel  trans- 
lated a  short  compendium  of  the  Bible  for  children.  This 
the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  undertook  to 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


print.  Kleinschmidt  was  commissioned  to  prepare  a  version 
of  the  New  Testament,  with  the  publication  of  which  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  made  itself  chargeable. 

Until  the  turn  of  the  century  Labrador  sorely  tested  faith 
and  patience.  The  total  number  of  Eskimos  who  had  made 
their  homes  at  the  three  stations  was  only  228.  Occasionally 
the  heathen  were  hostile.  Sometimes  supplies  almost  failed. 
But  with  the  new  century  there  came  a  reward  to  the  fidelity  of 
Benjamin  Kohimeister  and  his  associates.  The  awakening  be- 
gan at  Hopedale  in  1804.  Its  nature  marked  its  origin  as  from 
above.  The  conversion  of  two  wild  young  fellows,  Siksigak  and 
Kapik,  the  latter  as  notorious  as  was  Tuglavina  formerly,  made 
a  deep  impression  on  their  countrymen.  They  had  gone  from 
Nain  to  Hopedale  with  the  deliberate  intention  of  causing 
trouble,  but  came  back  changed  men,  exhorting  their  country- 
men to  repent  and  turn  to  Christ.  The  revival  necessitated  the 
building  of  a  new  church.  By  1818  six  hundred  people  now 
made  the  mission  stations  their  homes.  As  in  the  case  of 
Greenland,  Labrador  also  enjoyed  the  assistance  of  the  Society 
for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  for  the  creation  of  an  Eskimo  literature. 

Success  encouraged  a  desire  to  widen  the  work.  But  al- 
though Kohimeister  explored  the  coast  as  far  as  Cape  Chudleigh 
and  the  Ungava  country,  plans  were  strangely  thwarted.  On 
the  one  hand  the  force  of  missionaries  was  diminished  by  a  pe- 
culiar accident.  On  the  other  hand  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
interposed  objections.  The  former  hindrance  transpired  as  fol- 
lows. As  usual  the  missionary  ship  proceeded  to  Labrador  in  the 
summer  of  1816.  For  more  than  a  month  after  drift  ice  was 
reached,  it  could  not  make  port.  The  floes  extended  two  hun- 
dred miles  out  from  land.  But  at  length  Okak  was  reached  on 
August  29.  Supplies  were  landed.  Then  the  Jemima  for  three 
weeks  lay  a  helpless  prisoner  of  the  Frost  King.  By  dint  of 
skillful  efforts  Nain  was  made  on  September  22.  Here  John 
George  Kmoch,  John  Korner  and  Thomas  Christensen,  to- 
gether with  the  wife  of  the  first,  boarded  the  vessel  to  proceed 
to  Hopedale.  But  instead  they  made  port  in  the  Thames  on 
October  28.  For  on  the  very  day  of  sailing  a  tremendous  snow- 
storm followed  by  a  gale  carried  them  out  to  sea,  and  no  exer- 
tions of  Captain  Frazer  served  to  bring  his  ship  to  the  third 
station.     During  the  night  of  the  9th  disaster  threatened. 


328 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Twisted  by  the  violent  blows  of  the  storm-lashed  waves,  the 
larboard  side  of  the  vessel  opened  its  seams,  and  water  gushed 
in;  but  the  overruHng  power  of  God  averted  loss.  It  was 
August  7,  1817,  however  before  Kmoch  and  his  wife  and  Korner 
concluded  their  trip  to  Hopedale,  begun  almost  a  year  before. 

The  course  of  the  mission  in  the  West  Indies  is  now  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  movement  for  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery. The  pens  of  Clarkson  and  Ramsay  had  already  stimulated 
and  reenforced  the  voices  of  Wilberforce  and  Sharp,  and  in  1788 
the  Crown  had  appointed  a  committee  of  Privy  Council  to  make 
inquiry  concerning  the  slave-trade.  Wilberforce  had  made  his 
first  motion  for  a  committee  of  the  whole  House  of  Commons 
on  this  question,  and  during  the  years  1790  and  1791  evidence 
was  taken.  Meantime  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  in  Paris 
had  direct  bearing"  upon  the  issue  in  the  French  colonies.  In 
1791  the  National  Convention  passed  a  decree  giving  to  the 
mulattos  all  the  rights  of  French  citizens.  The  plantation  slaves 
became  infected  with  a  determination  that  the  principles  enun- 
ciated in  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  should  be  ex- 
tended to  themselves.  Slave  insurrections  broke  out  in  Hayti, 
Martinique  and  in  the  British  colony  of  Dominica.  In  1793  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  Hayti  was  proclaimed,  and  made  possible 
the  enormities  of  Toussaint  I'Ouverture  and  Dessalines.  These 
events  prejudiced  sentiment  in  Britain.  In  Denmark  the  neces- 
sity for  progressive  action  became  apparent.  So  long  as  Den- 
mark preserved  neutrality,  her  colonies,  and  especially  St. 
Thomas  with  its  capacious  harbor,  became  the  rendezvous  for 
commerce  under  every  flag.  Refugee  capitalists  and  adven- 
turers from  the  other  Antilles  and  all  parts  of  the  Spanish  Main 
sought  out  the  Danish  islands.  All  the  more  likely  was  the 
slave  trade  to  flourish  there,  and  all  the  more  open  would  her 
slave  population  be  to  the  influence  of  insurrectionary  move- 
ments in  progress  elsewhere.  Most  urgent  representations 
were  accordingly  made  to  the  home  government  respecting  the 
dangers  that  threatened.  This  situation  of  affairs  led  the  King 
of  Denmark  on  May  16,  1792,  to  issue  a  royal  order,  that  the 
traffic  in  slaves  should  cease  in  Danish  possessions  from  the  end 
of  the  year  1802.  At  the  same  time  and  in  the  years  immedi- 
diately  following,  repeated  requests  were  addressed  to  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference  by  Minister  Schimmelmann  and 
Countess  von  Reventlow  in  the  name  of  land-owners  on  St. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Croix  that  the  Brethren  would  widen  the  scope  of  their  under- 
takings, and  in  particular  assume  the  religious  and  civil  educa- 
tion of  the  children  of  the  slaves.  With  all  good  will,  the  trust 
could  not  be  accepted  in  the  measure  intended  by  the  proposers. 
The  times  were  hard.  Long  continued  drought,  following  a 
season  of  general  sickness,  lasted  for  four  years.  Scarcely  any 
vegetation  was  to  be  seen,  except  the  foliage  of  the  large  trees. 
In  St.  Croix  drinking  water  was  sold  at  a  considerable  price. 
Scarcity  of  provisions  added  its  distressing  features  to  those 
produced  by  the  prostration  of  industry,  complicated  by  the 
monetary  confusion  in  America  since  the  trade  of  ■  these 
islands  was  chiefly  with  the  States.  Planters  in  their  financial 
embarrassment  frequently  separated  parents  and  children,  hus- 
bands and  wives,  selling  them  wherever  purchasers  could  be 
secured.  Thus  members  of  the  church  were  scattered  to  Porto 
Rico,  Tortola  and  St.  Domingo.  Moreover  an  awful  tornado 
on  August  12  and  13,  1793,  long  left  its  memory  impressed  upon 
St.  Thomas  and  St.  John.  The  church  at  Bethany  collapsed  in 
utter  ruin,  and  the  missionaries  barely  escaped  with  their  lives. 
Most  of  the  people  lost  houses,  stores,  provisions  and  cattle, 
and  many  men  and  women  and  children  perished.  The  church 
at  Emmaus  remained  standing,  but  the  surrounding  settlement 
was  destroyed.  The  smaller  buildings  at  New  Herrnhut  and 
Nisky  were  demolished.  Not  a  plantation  on  St.  Thomas  but 
suffered.  Forty  ships  were  driven  ashore.  John  Gottlieb 
Miicke,  superintendent  since  1791,  had  his  burden  of  cares  made 
heavy  indeed. 

These  circumstances  brought  John  Renatus  Verbeek  to  the 
islands,  to  minister  comfort  in  the  name  of  the  home  congrega- 
tions. Three  months  from  April,  1797,  he  closely  inspected 
each  station.  Then  he  proceeded  to  St.  Kitts.  Here  progress 
had  been  made.  Large  accessions  were  the  rule.  The  mission 
enjoyed  general  esteem. 

Steady  progress  also  characterized  Antigua.  Moravian 
blacks  were  selected  for  positions  of  responsibility,  owing  to 
their  well-attested  rehabiHty  and  fidelity.  In  1796  land  for  a 
third  station  had  been  acquired  at  the  sea-shore.  It  received 
the  name  of  Gracebay. 

In  Barbados  Adam  Haman  and  John  Montgomery  had  be- 
gun to  reap  after  years  of  patience,  but  the  disadvantage  of 
operations  with  Bunkershill,  so  remote  from  Bridgetown,  as  the 

li 


330 


A  HISTORY  OF 


center,  had  become  apparent.  Hence  in  1794  eleven  acres  had 
been  acquired  in  the  vicinity  of  the  capital,  and  named  Sharon. 

Verbeek  returned  to  Herrnhut  in  August,  1798. 

Though  greatly  encouraged  by  his  active  sympathy  and  wise 
counsel,  the  missionaries  on  the  Antilles  were  to  realize,  how- 
ever, that  difficulties  were  not  over.  In  March,  1801,  St. 
Thomas  surrendered  to  a  powerful  British  fleet.  The  remain- 
ing Danish  islands  speedily  followed  this  example.  The  requi- 
sition of  the  mission  buildings  at  Friedensberg  for  a  hospital 
followed  in  April.  With  an  intermission  of  a  few  years  Britain 
kept  control  of  the  three  islands  until  181 5.  But  with  all  the 
uncertainty  of  the  times  a  new  station  was  begun  on  St.  Croix, 
Friedensfeld,  central  in  its  location.  Characteristic  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  period  were  the  experiences  of  John  Gottlieb 
Ramsch  and  John  Samuel  Schaerf,  who  had  been  detained  in 
company  with  the  missionaries  to  Greenland  on  the  Hvalftsken 
in  the  spring  of  1813.  Having  sailed  from  Portsmouth  in  No- 
vember, they  were  rapidly  nearing  their  destination,  when  on 
January  10,  1814,  their  ship  was  chased  by  a  vessel  of  superior 
size  flying  the  American  colors.  It  proved  a  privateer  of  four- 
teen guns.  Though  the  Englishman  mounted  only  six,  decks 
were  cleared  for  action.  The  missionaries  went  below  and  be- 
took themselves  to  earnest  prayer.  The  chase  was  stern.  Not 
until  half  past  seven  in  the  evening  was  the  American  close 
enough  to  exchange  shots.  The  fight  was  stubbornly  con- 
tinued through  the  night.  Thrice  the  privateer  tried  to  board 
the  merchantman.  But  although  one  hundred  and  twenty  as- 
sailants were  met  by  only  twenty-two,  soon  after  daybreak  the 
aggressor  drew  off.  The  English  ship  was  so  badly  damaged 
that  it  was  fortunate  she  could  make  St.  Thomas  next  noon. 
One  of  her  men  had  been  killed  and  eleven  wounded.  The 
sequel  is  found  in  the  diary  of  Friedensberg  for  1819.  In  March 
a  captain  from  Philadelphia  who  was  known  to  the  mission- 
aries brought  a  fellow  captain  of  similarly  pronounced  Chris- 
tian character  to  visit  the  Brethren.  After  a  while  it  developed 
in  the  course  of  conversation  that  the  latter.  Captain  Boyle  of 
Baltimore,  had  commanded  the  American  ship  in  the  fight. 
When  Sister  Ramsch  now  described  to  him  the  earnestness  of 
the  intercessions  of  the  missionaries  during  the  hours  of  con- 
flict and  suspense,  he  confessed  that  at  the  time  the  escape  of 
the  English  vessel  had  been  a  mystery  to  him.    He  had  later 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


learnt  that  her  passengers  were  missionaries,  and  the  whole  epi- 
sode had  providentially  served  to  lead  him  from  rough  habits 
and  a  Hfe  of  indifiference  to  religion.  In  fact  it  had  been  the 
means  of  his  conversion. 

Meantime  on  the  English  islands  progress  was  being  made. 
As  soon  as  Tobago  came  again  into  the  secure  possession  of 
Britain,  Carl  Schirmer  was  sent  to  the  slaves  on  the  Hamilton 
estate,  and  in  1800  John  Church  became  his  efficient  coadjutor. 
The  Antigua  mission  grew  apace,  in  spite  of  frequent  deaths 
of  missionaries  from  fever.  Gracebay  was  transferred  from  its 
old  site  to  Manchineel  Hill,  in  181 1,  and  Newfield  was  begun  in 
1817,  the  membership  having  grown  to  seven  thousand.  Bar- 
bados remained  a  field  of  more  modest  proportions.  St.  Kitts 
severely  felt  the  vicissitudes  of  the  war.  Provisions  rose  to 
famine  prices.  In  the  spring  of  1805  the  French  fleet  anchored 
in  Basseterre  harbor,  and  for  a  time  the  Union  Jack  had  to  give 
place  to  the  Tricolor.  This  delayed  the  establishment  of  Beth- 
esda  until  1819.  About  two  thousand  persons  were  in  charge 
of  the  missionaries  here  at  this  time.  Jamaica  also  knew  its 
deep  anxieties,  from  its  proximity  to  St.  Domingo.  David 
Taylor,  Christian  Lister,  superintendent  since  1790,  Christopher 
Herbst,  John  Bowen,  Philip  Howell,  Nathanael  Brown,  Joseph 
Jackson  and  Thomas  Ellis  were  the  chief  missionaries  during 
the  closing  decades  of  the  century.  Early  in  the  new  century 
the  proprietors  of  various  plantations  placed  halls  on  their  es- 
tates at  the  disposal  of  the  missionaries,  and  in  181 5  Thomas 
Ward  began  Irwin  Hill,  near  Montego  Bay. 

In  Surinam  the  arrival  of  John  Jacob  Fischer  from  Barby  in 
1789  imparted  a  new  spirit  at  Hope  on  the  Corentyne.  En- 
dowed with  unusual  linguistic  ability,  he  acquired  the  Arawack 
so  as  to  preach  within  a  few  months,  and  in  addition  to  the 
possession  of  executive  gifts  he  was  also  blessed  with  strong 
physical  powers.  By  his  persuasion,  the  Indians  removed  to  a 
more  fertile  spot  on  the  Aulibissi  creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
old  station,  where  the  mission  was  reestablished  in  1793.  Plan- 
tations of  coffee,  bananas  and  cotton  soon  rewarded  the  dili- 
gence of  the  converts,  and  a  neat  village  surrounded  the  church. 
Mat-weaving  and  the  manufacture  of  hammocks  and  the  prepa- 
ration of  lumber  formed  an  additional  means  of  support,  the 
products  being  taken  to  Berbice.  Before  long  a  mission  boat 
was  regularly  employed  to  carry  these  goods  to  market.  The 


332 


A  HISTORY  OF 


voyage  back  and  forth  was  sometimes  attended  with  a  spice  of 
danger,  Fischer  and  John  Peter  Kluge  suffering  shipwreck  in 
August,  1/95,  the  latter  being  captured  by  an  EngHsh  pri- 
vateer in  1796. 

But  alas,  the  glory  of  Hope  with  its  three  hundred  people 
was  nipped  in  the  bud.  Small-pox  broke  out  in  1800.  More 
than  twenty  died  within  six  months.  Fear  stimulated  the  re- 
assertion  of  the  Indians'  disposition  to  rove,  and  missionaries 
rather  encouraged  the  hiving  of  their  swarm,  in  order  the  more 
thoroughly  to  influence  numerous  Arawack  and  Carib  villages. 
By  April  the  majority  wished  to  be  transferred  to  Aporo,  seven 
hours'  distant,  but  their  teachers  remained  at  Hope,  visiting 
the  filial  at  stated  intervals.  Aporo  never  prospered.  Hope 
itself  soon  met  with  a  sore  calamity.  At  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  August  18,  1806,  the  cry  of  "fire"  suddenly  rang 
out.  Built  as  the  houses  were  of  logs,  plastered  externally  or 
weather-boarded,  and  having  lath  and  plaster  partitions,  ceiled 
with  planks  and  thatched  with  large  leaves  in  the  Indian  man- 
ner, the  school,  the  mission-house,  the  homes  of  individual  mis- 
sionary families  and  those  of  the  converts  quickly  succumbed  to 
the  flames  leaping  like  lightning  from  roof  to  roof.  The  entire 
village  was  reduced  to  smoking  embers.  Stores  of  various 
kinds,  tools  and  implements,  the  tackle  and  rigging  of  the  mis- 
sion-boat, and  the  very  orange  trees  whose  shade  had  been  so 
pleasant,  were  destroyed ;  books,  clothing,  some  gunpowder 
and  two  barrels  of  flour,  and  the  charred  walls  of  the  church — 
this  was  all  the  devouring  element  had  spared.  The  fire  was 
of  incendiary  origin  and  two  years  later  the  place  had  to  be 
abandoned  owing  to  the  hostility  of  the  heathen.  Yet  the 
ground  was  not  yielded  without  an  effort.  In  September,  181 1, 
Thomas  Langballe  and  his  wife  came  from  Paramaribo  in  order 
to  renew  the  work.  They  found  a  desolate  solitude.  Where 
formerly  the  house  and  gardens  of  the  mission  had  stood,  rank 
tropical  vegetation  had  taken  possession;  Hope  had  become 
the  home  of  screaming  parrots  and  the  hiding  place  of  reptiles. 
Yet  the  memory  of  better  days  survived.  Langballe  and  his 
wife  met  seventy-seven  of  its  former  Indians,  and  were  assured 
that  nearly  two  hundred  were  still  living.  A  desire  was  also 
expressed  for  the  renewal  of  the  mission.  Therefore  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  Genth  and  Hafa  were  sent  from  Paramaribo  to  the 
Corentyne.     Three  miles  from  Hope  they  found  an  Indian 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


333 


house  prepared  for  their  reception  by  Barzillai,  one  of  the  con- 
verts. Neither  fevers  nor  the  toil  of  clearing  the  dense  forest 
would  have  daunted  them.  But  the  indifference  of  the  Indians 
themselves  finally  caused  them  to  turn  to  others  who  prized 
the  message  more  highly,  the  slaves  on  the  plantations. 

For  under  John  Wied  this  mission  made  vigorous  strides  for- 
ward. Appointed  superintendent  in  1790,  he  had  been  accom- 
panied on  his  voyage  out  by  Bishop  Samuel  Liebisch,  whose 
ofificial  visit  had  materially  systematized  methods  of  work 
through  the  creation  of  a  local  board  of  supervision.  Notwith- 
standing the  interruption  of  communications  owing  to  the  war 
between  Holland  and  England,  flour  at  one  time  rising  in  cost 
to  150  florins  per  barrel;  notwithstanding  the  repeated  deaths 
of  men  and  women  from  fever  (when  Liebisch  visited  Para- 
maribo fifteen  missionaries  already  lay  at  rest  in  the  httle  ceme- 
tery in  the  Brethren's  quarter) ;  and  in  spite  of  the  fetishism  in 
the  very  blood  of  the  people,  the  congregation  in  the  city 
now  advanced  rapidly,  numbering  seven  hundred  and  fifteen  in 
1815.  At  the  price  of  several  lives  New  Bambey  had  been  main- 
tained, but  in  1813  the  mission  in  the  wilderness  had  to  be  aban- 
doned. So,  too,  the  opposition  of  the  planters  compelled  a  ces- 
sation of  operations  at  Sommelsdyk  with  its  one  hundred  and 
fifty  converts  in  1818. 

After  the  restoration  of  Cape  Colony  to  the  Dutch,  Governor 
Jansen  was  very  sedulous  in  developing  a  corps  of  Hottentot 
auxiliaries  for  defence  against  future  invaders.  The  fame  of 
Baviaanskloof  had  spread  by  this  time,  and  its  people  had  so 
won  a  name  for  steadiness,  that  rascally  natives  were  wont  to 
palm  themselves  off  as  inhabitants  of  the  place  in  order  to  bet- 
ter secure  positions  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  planters,  and 
the  missionaries  issued  certificates  as  a  protection  against  im- 
posters.  Now  Moravian  Hottentots  were  particularly  in  de- 
mand as  non-commissioned  officers  of  this  militia.  Next  John 
Philip  Kohrhammer  was  appointed  chaplain,  but  his  chaplaincy 
came  to  a  sudden  termination  in  Jantiary,  1806.  On  the  fourth 
of  the  month  sixty  men-of-war  flying  the  British  flag  entered 
the  roads.  After  a  furious  cannonade  throughout  the  eighth, 
the  invaders  made  good  their  landing.  On  the  twenty-first 
Cape  Colony  once  more  became  a  British  possession.  On  June 
29  the  new  Governor  honored  Genadendal  with  a  visit,  and  ex- 
pressed his  delight  at  what  he  saw.    Pursuing  Jansen's  poHcy 


334 


A  HISTORY  OF 


with  regard  to  the  enUstment  of  natives,  however,  General  Baird 
unwittingly  hampered  the  mission.  Baird's  successor.  Lord 
Caledon,  similarly  appreciating  the  humanitarian  aspects  of  the 
undertaking,  suggested  a  new  center  of  influence,  at  Groene- 
kloof,  near  the  sea,  forty  miles  from  Cape  Town  on  the  high 
road  to  Saldhanha  Bay.  Kohrhammer  and  John  Henry 
Schmidt  left  Genadendal  to  inaugurate  the  new  mission  in 
March,  1808.  By  the  end  of  the  year  about  one  hundred  na- 
tives had  established  permanent  homes  in  its  vicinity. 

Here  in  181 1  Schmidt  made  a  thrilling  experience.  Packs  of 
wolves  constantly  ravaged  the  flocks  of  the  mission.  Hence  in 
August  Schmidt  and  Bonatz  organized  a  wolf  hunt.  They  soon 
wounded  one  beast,  but  he  managed  to  get  away.  Wearied 
with  fruitless  searchings,  the  chase  was  at  last  abandoned. 
Suddenly  a  shout  apprized  them  that  their  people  thought  they 
had  discovered  the  beast  in  a  thicket.  Schmidt  gave  his  horse 
to  a  Hottentot  and  returned,  gun  in  hand.  One  of  the  dogs 
plunged  into  the  dense  brush  and  started — not  the  wolf,  but  a 
tiger!  {Felis  scrval.)  The  natives,  except  one,  fled.  Like  a 
flash  the  tiger  springs  on  this  Hottentot,  and  has  him  beneath 
his  body  in  such  a  way  that  Schmidt  cannot  shoot  for  fear  of 
injuring  the  man.  Soon  the  tiger  turns  on  the  missionary, 
whose  gun  is  useless  at  such  close  quarters.  But  he  wards  off 
its  cruel  jaws  with  his  uplifted  arm.  They  snap  upon  his  elbow. 
Then  he  grasps  the  tiger's  fore-foot  with  one  hand  and  with  the 
other  clutches  its  throat.  It  is  a  wrestle  for  life  or  death.  At 
last  the  beast  is  thrown,  and  the  missionary  plants  his  knee  on 
its  body,  the  while  he  keeps  his  grip  on  its  throat.  His  com- 
panion, Philip,  can  render  no  aid,  all  blinded  as  he  is  from  his 
own  wounds.  But  their  cries  bring  the  others.  One  of  them 
points  his  gun  under  Schmidt's  arm,  and  shoots  the  struggHng 
tiger  through  the  heart.  Poor  Schmidt  has  been  dreadfully 
lacerated,  and  suffers  extreme  pain.  Upon  removal  home,  fever 
sets  in.  Happily  the  treatment  of  a  physician  is  successful. 
Philip  also  rallies  from  his  injuries  and  the  shock  of  the  attack. 

The  first  of  the  three  pioneers  of  the  resuscitated  mission  to 
be  removed  by  death  was  John  Christian  Kiihnel,  on  April  20, 
1810.  He  departed  in  the  midst  of  usefulness,  deeply  mourned. 
But  the  workmen  could  safely  pass  to  their  reward  now ;  their 
work  was  well  established.  Genadendal  could  soon  count  one 
thousand  souls. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


335 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1818. 

The  second  general  synod  in  the  nineteenth  century  was 
opened  on  June  i,  1818,  by  Bishop  John  Godfrey  Cunow,  who 
presided.  It  continued  in  session  until  the  end  of  August. 
Younger  men  than  usual  were  present  in  considerable  numbers. 

A  searching  and  thorough  examination  into  the  entire  struc- 
ture of  the  Unity — doctrine,  practice,  ritual,  constitution,  ad- 
ministration, missions,  social  and  economic  Hfe,  finances,  etc. — 
was  entered  upon  with  loyal  enthusiasm  and  undoubtedly  high 
purpose.  This  is  to  be  conceded,  even  though  compromises  of 
doubtful  utility  resulted.  To  prepare  for  the  discussions  the 
second  session  was  devoted  to  the  reading  of  a  declaration  of 
fundamental  propositions  concerning  the  character  and  calling 
of  the  Brethren's  Unity,  which  should  be  regarded  as  the 
standard.  This  paper  had  been  previously  drawn  up  by  Bishop 
Cunow  at  the  request  of  his  colleagues,  and  had  been  approved 
by  them.  Synod  in  its  turn  also  accepted  the  positions  thus  set 
forth,  and  testified  to  the  practical  unanimity  of  its  members  in 
respect  to  essentials. 

Debate  developed  sharp  dif¥erences  of  opinion  concerning  the 
use  of  the  lot.  It  was  fully  understood,  however,  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Lord  Jesus  did  not  stand  or  fall  with  the  employ- 
ment of  the  lot,  the  latter  being  a  subordinate  aflfair  of  the  ex- 
ternal associated  life  of  the  Unity.  Synod  decided  that  when 
recourse  to  the  lot  was  had  in  determining  appointments  to  office 
the  blank,  third,  lot  should  not  henceforth  be  employed,  but  that 
the  alternative  should  ever  be  stated  after  the  fashion  of  the 
apostolic  lot — "Which  of  the  two."  Nor  should  it  be  obligatory, 
when  clearness  and  certainty  of  decision  could  be  reached  with- 
out its  guidance.  As  to  the  decision  of  the  lot  in  connection 
with  proposed  marriages,  it  was  plain  that  the  old  order  could 


336 


A  HISTORY  OF 


not  be  maintained  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Yet 
there  seemed  to  be  no  sufficient  reason  why  the  usage  should  be 
aboHshed  where  objections  had  not  been  raised.  Therefore  for 
the  European  settlement-congregations  it  should  still  be  the 
rule ;  for  the  town  and  country  congregations  in  Europe  and 
for  the  American  congregations  liberty  to  dispense  with  it  was 
granted.  But  when  the  news  of  this  legislation  reached  the 
European  settlements  (and  the  synod  had  made  this  possible 
through  the  circulation  of  a  weekly  report  of  its  proceedings) 
great  dissatisfaction  arose,  notably  in  Herrnhut.  Petitions 
came  in,  often  contradictory  in  their  purport.  After  a  recon- 
sideration synod  empowered  the  Unity's  Eders'  Conference 
to  give  a  new  decision  for  the  European  settlements ;  and  in 
1819  this  body  extended  the  rule  of  freedom  to  all  except  min- 
isters and  missionaries  of  the  church. 

When  reviewing  the  rehgious  life  of  the  congregations,  zeal 
for  the  promotion  of  vital  godliness  distinguished  the  synod, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  real  value  of  plans  adopted.  Con- 
fessedly the  former  conception  of  a  "faithful  kernel"  within  the 
congregations  had  failed  to  achieve  what  had  been  desired  and 
hoped.  Now  Bishop  Cunow  came  forward  with  a  new  plan, 
according  to  which  a  distinction  should  be  made  between  those 
who  were  only  outwardly  connected  with  a  congregation  and 
those  who  truly  belonged  to  its  inner  fellowship.  His  plan  was 
adopted.  In  brief  it  was  as  follows :  The  Unity  of  the  Breth- 
ren is  constituted  of  two  concentric  circles  of  associated  mem- 
bers. The  more  external  may  be  called  the  Brethren's  Church. 
Into  this  enter  the  children  of  Moravian  parents  by  birth,  bap- 
tism and  confirmation.  Into  this  are  also  received  those  who 
from  outside  make  application  for  membership.  For  the  mem- 
bers of  this  outer  circle  four  celebrations  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
shall  be  arranged  annually.  But  within  this  circle  there  shall 
now  be  also  a  closer  covenant  fellowship — ein  cngerer  Bund — 
the  actual  and  essential  congregation.  An  indispensable  quali- 
fication for  admission  to  this  circle  is  an  outspoken,  earnest  re- 
ligious disposition.  He  who  be  received  into  it  must  declare 
his  desire,  and  submit  to  the  decision  of  the  lot.  In  this  inner 
circle  the  Holy  Communion  shall  be  celebrated  every  four 
weeks.  Its  members  alone  shall  be  admitted  to  the  church 
council  and  the  committee — Aufschcr  Collegium.  Besides  these 
two  classes  of  persons,  people  who  do  not  belong  to  the  church 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


337 


may  also  dwell  in  a  "settlement"  on  signing  a  declaration  that 
they  will  do  nothing  contrary  to  the  rules  and  regulations.  In 
the  event  this  legislation  proved  hurtful.  It  ministered  to  spir- 
itual pride  and  a  false  sense  of  security  and  religious  sloth,  to 
be  able  to  lay  to  the  soul  the  flattering  unction  that  one  had 
been  pointed  out  by  the  lot  as  one  of  the  elect.  Therewith  it 
was  only  too  difficult  not  to  despise  those  who  failed  of  attain- 
ing this  privilege  and  the  implied  endorsement. 

The  doctrinal  position  of  the  church  remained  unaltered, 
save  that  a  fifth  article  was  added  to  the  four  already  enun- 
ciated, viz.,  confession  of  faith  that  the  work  of  the  Spirit  is 
made  manifest  in  the  fruits  of  a  godly  life. 

In  connection  with  the  ritual,  besides  the  distinction  between 
the  monthly  and  the  quarterly  communion  an  inner  fellowship 
of  prayer — engerc  Betergcscllschaft — was  projected  for  members 
of  the  inner  circle,  apparently  a  substitute  for  the  "hourly  inter- 
cession" of  former  days.  Perpetuation  of  the  rite  of  footwash- 
ing,  which  had  been  falling  into  abeyance  for  some  time,  was 
referred  to  each  local  elders'  conference,  action  tantamount  to 
abrogation. 

A  step  forward  was  taken  in  the  matter  of  church  publica- 
tions, by  authorizing  the  bi-monthly  issue  of  selections  from  the 
Gemein  Nachrichten.  They  were  arranged  according  to  a  three- 
fold classification ;  first,  reports  from  the  mission  fields  and  ser- 
mons and  addresses ;  second,  reports  of  the  Predigcr  Confer- 
enacn,  memoirs  and  addresses  and  sermons ;  and  third,  reports 
of  the  congregations  and  Diaspora  posts.  The  first  of  these 
were  now  to  be  printed ;  the  second  and  third  should  continue 
to  circulate  in  manuscript  as  heretofore.  During  recent  years 
the  educational  activity  had  received  a  powerful  impetus. 
Twenty-five  church  schools  had  been  founded  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century.  In  all  about  twelve  hundred  children  of 
non-Moravian  parentage  were  now  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the 
church.  Synod  therefore  made  public  declaration  of  the  fact 
that  the  Brethren's  chtirch  regarded  the  educational  sphere  as  a 
distinct  and  weighty  trust.  A  special  department  of  the  Unity's 
Elder's  Conference  was  charged  with  educational  oversight. 
This  involved  a  reconstruction  of  the  board,  henceforth  to  have 
three  sub-divisions — the  Department  of  Pastoral  Oversight  and 
Education,  the  Department  of  Missions  and  the  Department  of 
Finance.  Considerable  discussion  was  evoked  by  the  status  of 
23 


338 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  joint  college  and  seminary  at  Niesky.  Experience  had 
taught  that  the  union  of  these  two  institutions  was  undesirable. 
Now  one  phase  of  sentiment,  championed  by  Christian  Fred- 
erick Ramftler,  since  1803  stationed  in  England,  urged  the 
abolition  of  the  seminary,  and  advocated  the  preparation  of 
future  ministers  for  their  pastoral  duties  by  having  them  serve, 
like  the  acolytes  of  the  old  Unity,  as  assistants  to  pastors  who 
should  receive  them  into  their  families  and  personally  supervise 
their  studies.  On  the  other  hand  Frederick  Lewis  Kolbing 
vigorously  contended  for  the  maintenance  of  the  seminary,  as 
essential  to  the  existence  of  the  church.  His  views  prevailed. 
It  was  resolved  to  leave  the  college  at  Niesky,  and  when  Ront- 
gen  of  Gnadenfeld  suggested  the  Brethren's  House  of  his  set- 
tlement as  a  possible  home  for  the  seminary,  its  removal  thither 
was  decided  upon.  Here  in  a  quiet  Ortsgemeine,  in  the  seclu- 
sion of  rural  life,  it  was  thought  a  theological  equipment  might 
be  acquired  with  the  least  distraction.  Fortunately  for  the 
church  the  right  man  for  the  work  of  reconstructing  this  im- 
portant institution  was  at  hand.  This  was  John  Plitt,  at  present 
principal  of  the  school  at  Neuwied.  His  biblical  studies  and 
systematic  theology,  and  not  least  his  researches  in  the  history 
of  the  church,  were  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  im- 
buing his  students  as  he  did  with  a  more  philosophic  under- 
standing of,  and  a  more  ardent  devotion  to,  the  essentials  of  the 
mission  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

The  finances  of  the  church  occasioned  grave  anxiety.  Whilst 
the  joint  undertakings  of  the  Unity  as  a  whole  were  prosperous, 
serious  losses  had  been  suffered  through  fire  at  Hennersdorf  in 
1814,  and  in  connection  with  the  abandonment  of  Hope,  New 
Jersey.  Contributions  showed  a  marked  falling  off;  but  the 
returns  from  the  Unity's  estates,  money  obtained  by  the  sale 
of  lands  in  Wachovia,  and  the  earnings  of  the  Diirninger  estab- 
lishment had  combined  to  place  a  surplus  at  disposal  amount- 
ing to  170,000  thaler.  On  the  other  hand  the  treasuries  of  the 
individual  congregations  in  many  cases  were  embarrassed. 
The  net  indebtedness  of  all  taken  together  amounted  to  660,000 
thaler.  On  the  principle  of  "one  for  all  and  all  for  one"  the 
surplus  was  therefore  divided  pro  rata  amongst  the  congrega- 
tions as  a  contribution  towards  the  liquidation  of  the  debts. 
These  were  to  be  funded.  Since  the  fraternal  principle  had 
tended  to  foster  an  inclination  of  local  authorities  to  lean  on  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


339 


general  resources,  it  was  urged  that  the  spirit  of  self-depend- 
ence be  fostered,  and  the  communal  and  churchly  accounts 
were  to  be  separated ;  for  the  latter  only  were  the  local  organi- 
zations under  any  circumstances  to  look  for  help  from  the  gen- 
eral treasury. 

Finally,  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  was  reconstituted : 
the  Department  of  Pastoral  Oversight  and  Education,  John 
Renatus  Verbeek,  Bishop  Herman  Richter  and  Frederick  Lewis 
Kolbing;  the  Department  of  Missions,  Bishop  Godfrey  Cunow, 
Bishop  Wilhardus  Fabricius  and  Gottlieb  Martin  Schneider; 
the  Department  of  Finance,  John  Frederick  William  Kolbing,  * 
Niels  Amtrup,  John  Wied  and  John  Henry  Zaslein.  Bishop 
Cunow  became  President  of  the  new  board. 


340 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


THE  CHURCH  ON  THE  CONTINENT  OF  EUROPE,  FROM  1818  TO  1836. 

The  removal  of  the  theological  seminary  to  Gnadenfeld  was 
effected  in  September,  iSiS.  Eight  students  bade  farewell  to 
Niesky  and  in  company  with  one  of  their  instructors,  Adam 
William  Braht,  commenced  the  journey  to  the  distant  settle- 
ment on  the  Polish  border,  where  the  reopening  took  place  on 
the  25th  amid  misgivings  on  the  part  of  some  who  regarded  the 
change,  in  part  in  the  interests  of  economy,  as  equivalent  to  a 
banishment  of  the  most  important  educational  institution  of  the 
church  to  an  environment,  Polish  and  Roman  Catholic,  that 
would  scarcely  compensate  for  the  absence  of  worldly  distrac- 
tions. Meagerly  supplied  with  a  teaching  force — for  at  first 
Braht  was  the  only  assistant  of  Plitt — its  indebtedness  to  the 
latter  becomes  all  the  more  apparent.  Then  Braht's  health 
failed,  and  he  was  replaced  by  Christian  William  Matthiesen. 
The  curriculum  crystallized  into  a  two  years'  course  in  Exege- 
sis, Dogmatics,  Paedagogics  and  Didactics,  Introduction  to  the 
Old  Testament,  Church  History,  History  of  the  Unitas  Frat- 
rum.  Applied  Mathematics,  Physics,  Natural  History,  Physi- 
ology and  Encyclopaedia — entirely  too  diversified  a  range  of 
studies  for  any  two  men.  Yet  as  the  reward  of  seven  years' 
toil,  during  which  he  contended  for  an  ideal  against  adverse 
circumstances,  Plitt  could  back  upon  his  didactic  labors  with 
the  satisfaction  of  one  who  knew  that  he  had  laid  deep  and  solid 
foundations  for  the  future.  Meantime  the  college  remained  at 
Niesky,  with  John  Stengord  in  charge,  his  duties  being  later 
divided  between  Charles  Frederick  Schordan  and  Theodore 
Dober,  the  former  becoming  President  and  the  latter  Dean. 

In  the  year  1820  another  removal  ordered  by  the  synod  was 
effected,  the  transfer  of  the  archives  from  Niesky  to  the  Hcrr- 
schaftshatis  at  Herrnhut,  the  collection  being  placed  in  charge 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


of  Frederick  Louis  Kolbing.  As  a  fruit  of  his  researches,  and 
as  a  preparation  for  a  worthy  celebration  of  the  centenary  of 
the  resuscitation  of  the  Unity,  the  Gcdenktage  der  alien  imd  der 
erneuerten  Brudcrkirche  appeared  at  Gnadau  in  1821.  Next  year 
an  English  translation  "The  Memorial  Days  of  the  Ancient  and 
of  the  Renewed  Brethren's  Church"  made  the  work  accessible 
in  Britain  and  America. 

In  quick  succession  the  church  was  called  upon  to  mourn 
several  of  her  well-tried  leaders.  The  first  to  be  called  home 
was  the  venerable  John  Renatus  Verbeek,  on  July  13,  1820. 
From  1782  to  1789  a  secretary  to  the  mission  board,  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  ever  since 
the  latter  year,  and  had  been  eminent  from  the  talent  for  affairs 
which  he  inherited  from  his  father,  Peter  Verbeek.  The  next 
was  Bishop  Flermann  Richter,  who  resigned  about  six  months 
later,  feeling  incapacitated  by  the  effects  of  a  stroke  from  which 
he  never  fully  recovered.  He  died  on  March  19,  182 1.  The 
vacancies  were  filled  by  Bishop  John  Baptist  von  Albertini, 
Schleiermacher's  friend  and  a  gifted  pulpit  orator  and  a  poet  of 
no  mean  quality,  and  Samuel  Christlieb  Reichel,  hitherto  a  sec- 
retary to  the  Conference.  On  March  20,  1822,  there  passed 
away  the  venerable  form  of  one  who  linked  the  church  of  the 
new  century  to  that  of  the  Zinzendorfian  era,  John  Christian 
Quandt,  eighty-eight  years  of  age,  fifty-four  of  which  had  been 
actively  spent  in  the  service  of  the  church.  With  Kober  he  had 
helped  to  pilot  her  through  the  worst  financial  storms.  From 
1769  to  1818  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  governing  board. 

Herrnhut's  centenary  anniversary  aroused  enthusiasm  more 
than  local.  In  the  mother-congregation  itself  the  celebration 
lasted  for  three  days,  an  immense  concourse  of  people  being  in 
attendance,  including  representatives  from  England.  In  con- 
trast to  the  expressions  of  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  ser- 
vices rendered  by  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  which  at  this  time  voiced 
the  estimate  of  divines  of  various  confessions,  there  were,  how- 
ever, those  who  sought  to  mar  the  very  rejoicings  of  the  Unity 
by  a  renewal  of  the  attacks  which  had  been  the  peculiarity  of  a 
past  age,  and  which  it  had  been  reasonable  to  hope  had  been 
buried  amid  forgotten  issues  of  that  past.  Strikingly  charac- 
teristic, on  the  other  hand,  was  the  change  in  the  source  of  these 
newer  antagonistic  writings.  No  longer,  as  in  Zinzendorf's 
day,  did  they  originate  with  men  who  alleged  the  unchurchliness 


342 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  the  Unity,  but  rather  with  those  who  championed  the  ration- 
aUstic  school,  to  which  the  Unity  had  become  offensive  as  a 
repository  of  pure  Scriptural  simplicity  of  doctrine  and  as  the 
promoter  of  spiritual  life  within  the  church.  This  was  especially 
the  case  in  Switzerland,  where  sundry  controversial  articles  ap- 
peared in  theological  journals.  In  two  instances  purely  per- 
sonal motives  were  at  work.  A  certain  John  Hansen,  a  former 
member  of  the  Christiansfeld  congregation,  pubhshed  a  tract 
entitled,  "Kami  die  herrnhutischc  Gemcine  eine  wahrhaft  Evange- 
lisch  Christliche  genannt  werdenf"  Dr.  Luther  of  Dietendorf  re- 
plied. Hansen  wrote  again, in  1823,  ernsthaftes  Wort  wider  die 
Herrnhiiter,"  but  made  public  retraction  in  1827.  The  other  hos- 
tile writer  was  Charles  Limmer,  a  deposed  preacher  of  Saratov, 
whose  attack  was  entitled,  "Meine  Vcrfolgung  in  Russ!and,  eine 
actcnmdssige  Darstcllung  der  jesuitisch  Jierrnhuiisclien  Umtriebe  des 
Doctor  Ignatius  Fessler  und  seine  Verbundeten."  A  brief  exposure 
of  the  falsehoods  herein  set  forth  was  published  by  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  in  the  Hamburger  Correspondent  in  1823,  and 
in  the  same  year  a  thorough  exposure  of  the  pasquinade  of 
Limmer  appeared  from  the  pen  of  Paul  Pesarorius,  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  General  Consistory  in  Russia.  On  the  other  hand 
a  number  of  publications  calculated  to  place  the  Unity  in  a  cor- 
rect light  before  the  public  were  now  issued:  e.  g.,  "Kursgefasste 
Nachricht  von  der  Brudcr gemcine,"  fifth  edition,  completely  re- 
vised ;  "Hatipt  Inhalt  der  Lehre  fesu  Christi,"  by  Jacob  Plitt — both 
in  1822 ;  and  in  1823  the  new  edition  of  the  Liturgy  by  Garve. 

Of  more  consequence  than  the  libellous  controversial  pubH- 
cations  just  referred  to  were  the  manifestations  of  active  oppo- 
sition to  the  Diaspora  in  certain  quarters.  At  the  instigation 
of  the  Greek  Church  party,  Palucci,  Governor  of  Livonia,  issued 
a  decree  prohibiting  the  Brethren's  services.  In  Canton  Zurich 
the  dislike  of  orthodoxy  for  the  Pietism  of  the  Kriidener-Hal- 
dane-Malan  adherents,  whom  their  opponents  nicknamed 
"Momiers,"  bore  upon  everything  that  might  be  thought  to  re- 
semble conventicles.  In  South  Germany  similar  restraints  were 
felt  not  only  from  distaste  for  the  simple  Biblical  standpoint  of 
the  Brethren,  but  also  from  a  dread  of  all  private  assemblages 
in  an  age  when  the  spirit  of  revolution  was  abroad  and  political 
troubles  were  brewing.  In  Thuringia  and  Brunswick  the  latter 
cause  placed  hindrances  in  the  way,  and  in  Hanover  the  services 
were  disallowed.     But  as  the  breach  widened  between  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


343 


rationalisic  and  evangelical  parties  in  state  churches,  the  fra- 
ternal feeling  between  the  latter  and  the  Brethren  widened  and 
deepened.  Practical  proofs  of  this  became  evident  in  the  finan- 
cial assistance  rendered  to  the  missions. 

From  its  comparative  repose  the  Unity  was  awakened  in  the 
summer  of  1823  by  the  news  of  a  catastrophe  which  aroused 
sympathy  everywhere.  Sarepta  was  the  scene  of  distress.  It 
had  been  an  exceptionally  hot  and  dry  summer.  The  Sarpa 
almost  ceased  to  flow.  The  wooden  houses  of  the  town  had 
become  dry  as  tinder.  Suddenly  at  noon,  on  August  9,  the 
alarm  bell  rang.  One  of  the  rear  buildings  in  the  densest  part 
of  the  town  was  on  fire.  It  swept  onward  with  awful  rapidity. 
The  rescue  of  valuables  left  an  insufficient  force  of  men  to  fight 
the  flames.  They  burnt  on  till  in  the  night.  When  the  sun 
rose  next  day  two-thirds  of  the  town  had  been  destroyed,  thirty- 
seven  buildings — dwellings,  stores  and  factories — amongst  the 
finest  in  the  place,  and  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  houses  of  a 
secondary  sort.  More  than  three  hundred  people  were  home- 
less. The  complete  subdual  of  the  fire  consumed  upwards  of 
a  week,  and  for  two  weeks  there  prevailed  keen  anxiety,  till  a 
heavy  rain  put  an  end  to  care.  Freewill  offerings  came  in,  not 
only  from  Germany,  but  also  from  England  and  from  America, 
the  congregation  in  New  York,  for  example,  contributing  more 
than  one  thousand  dollars. 

Deaths  again  broke  the  circle  of  the  Conference.  On  De- 
cember 30,  1823,  the  long  career  of  William  Frederick  Kolbing 
suddenly  closed.  Half  a  year  later,  on  July  30,  after  a  pro- 
tracted decline  Bishop  Cunow  passed  away.  Bishop  Albertini 
now  became  President,  the  vacancies  not  being  filled,  since  the 
synod  was  soon  to  convene.  Prior  to  it  two  other  departures 
thinned  the  lessening  ranks.  On  January  11,  1825,  Bishop 
Fabricius  died,  and  on  April  5  John  Henry  Ziislein. 

When  on  May  24  the  general  synod  assembled  at  Herrnhut, 
Frederick  Louis  Kolbing  presided.  The  general  tone  was  con- 
servative. The  condition  of  the  church  aroused  well-founded 
apprehensions.  The  total  membership  showed  a  net  decrease 
of  1200  members  since  the  synod  of  1818.  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  membership  at  large  and  an  inner  circle  had  been 
wholly  detrimental,  and  was  therefore  now  abohshed.  As  to 
the  choir  estabHshments,  their  universal  maintenance  was  felt 
to  be  open  to  criticism,  and  it  was  agreed  that  whilst  the  time 


344 


A  HISTORY  OF 


had  not  come  for  their  compulsory  abrogation,  they  might  be 
quietly  suffered  to  die  out  as  local  conditions  required.  Whilst 
the  indebtedness  reported  at  the  previous  synod  had  been  re- 
duced by  33,207  thaler,  no  less  than  36,000  of  the  income  had 
been  derived  by  the  sale  of  land  in  Wachovia.  To  continue  to 
aUenate  property  merely  that  interest  might  be  met  and  the 
capital  debt  sHghtly  reduced  would  be  suicidal.  The  creation  of 
a  sinking  fund  was  therefore  devised.  Marriage  by  lot  should  be 
obligatory  only  in  the  case  of  missionaries.  Although  the 
synod  of  1818  had  contemplated  the  abandonment  of  the  grade 
of  Senior  Civilis,  the  unique  position  of  Louis  David  de 
Scliweinitz  as  administrator  of  the  Unity's  property  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  proprietor  of  its  estates  in  North  Carolina  in  addi- 
tion to  the  fact  that  he  had  already  served  as  the  responsible 
negotiator  for  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  the 
retrocession  of  the  lands  in  Ohio  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  caused  a  revival  of  this  grade  in  his  person.  In 
the  event  his  became  the  distinction  of  being  the  last  to  be  so 
appointed.  The  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  as  reconstructed, 
consisted  of  the  following:  the  Department  of  Education  and 
of  the  Pastoral  office.  Bishop  Albertini,  the  President  of  the 
entire  board,  together  with  Frederick  Louis  Kolbing  and  Peter 
Frederick  Curie ;  the  Department  of  Missions,  Bishop  Schneider, 
John  Wied  and  John  Beck  Holmes ;  the  Department  of  Finance, 
Christlieb  Reichel,  Niels  Arntrup  and  John  Daniel  Romer. 

Bishop  Holmes  did  not  find  it  practicable  to  remove  to  Herrn- 
hut,  but  in  January,  1726,  was  constrained  by  the  state  of  his 
wife's  health  to  tender  his  resignation.  In  his  place  Bishop 
Hiiflfel,  President  of  the  Conference  in  Bethlehem,  was  sum- 
moned to  membership  in  the  Mission  Board.  Before  returning 
to  resume  labors  in  which  he  had  shared  prior  to  1818,  he  was 
commissioned  to  officially  visit  the  West  Indies — St.  Croix,  St. 
Thomas,  St.  John,  St.  Kitts,  Antigua  and  Barbados — and  land- 
ing in  England  early  in  October  on  his  way  to  the  Continent, 
forged  a  valuable  link  of  personal  acquaintance  with  the  mem- 
bers of  the  British  Conference  at  Ockbrook.  Prior  to  his  ar- 
rival in  Germany,  viz..  on  June  4,  1827,  Niels  Arntrup,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Department  of  Finance  since  1802.  passed  away.  It 
was  not  deemed  necessary  to  order  an  election.  The  financial 
division  of  the  governing  board  was  simply  reduced  to  corre- 
spond with  the  two  other  divisions. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


345 


In  more  than  one  respect  it  was  a  critical  age,  and  the  gloomy 
prognostications  of  several  at  the  recent  synod  seemed  to  be 
justified.  Yet  the  gloom  was  the  darkness  that  precedes  dawn, 
and  here  and  there  glimmerings  of  Hght  shimmered  on  the 
horizon.  But  for  the  time  the  outlook  was  sufficiently  troubled. 
The  communal  life  of  the  settlements  presented  perplexities  in 
relation  to  externals.  In  1828  there  was  a  wide-spread  failure 
of  crops.  The  complications  involved  in  adjusting  circum- 
stances to  the  new  methods  of  manufacture  and  commerce  had 
their  effects  upon  economic  conditions,  members  more  and 
more  numerously  moving  away  for  a  liveUhood.  Som.etimes 
the  inner  life  of  the  communities  was  disttirbed ;  notably  at  Neu- 
wied  and  among  the  Diaspora  societies  of  the  Palatinate  in  1829, 
when  a  certain  fanatic  named  Kaufholz  attacked  the  standpoint 
of  the  Brethren  respecting  the  doctrine  of  sanctification,  and 
drew  after  himself  some  who  were  deluded  by  his  professions  of 
attained  holiness — to  learn  the  dearly  bought  lesson,  repeatedly 
demonstrated  in  the  history  of  the  church  universal,  that  what 
is  begun  in  the  spirit  may  end  in  the  flesh  and  may  necessitate 
police  suppression. 

Nevertheless  the  influence  of  men  like  Albertini  and  Kolbing 
and  PHtt  was  silently  working  like  a  leaven  amongst  those  of 
a  younger  generation.  Their  apprehension  of  the  ideal  of  the 
Unity's  historic  significance  and  caUing  together  with  the  in- 
fluence of  their  personality  should  prove  exceedingly  germi- 
nant.  Moreover,  a  deep  spirit  of  earnest  desire  that  the  days 
of  old  should  be  renewed,  and  prayers  for  a  revival  of  the  posi- 
tive and  joyous  assurance  of  personal  acceptance  with  God, 
characteristic  of  the  fathers,  in  short  for  a  rebaptism  of  the 
Spirit,  had  been  promoted  by  the  celebration  of  a  three-fold 
centenary  of  even  greater  significance  than  that  which  preceded 
the  late  synod.  The  first  was  the  centenary  of  the  festival  of 
the  Thirteenth  of  August.  As  became  its  character,  it  vv^as  a  day 
of  quiet  heart-searchings  and  renewals  of  personal  vows  in  all 
the  congregations.  Closely  connected  with  this  was  the  cen- 
tennial jubilee  for  the  children,  on  the  17th.  In  connection  with 
the  centenary  of  the  "Hourly  Intercession"  the  Cup  of  Covenant 
gave  opportunity  to  anew  pledge  personal  fidelity  and  to 
strengthen  the  bonds  of  brotherhood  in  a  manner  which  had 
long  since  ceased  to  be  employed.  At  the  same  time  the  very 
anniversary  pointed  to  the  spirit  of  prayer  as  both  the  right 


346 


A  HISTORY  OF 


means  and  the  best  indication  of  a  renewal  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
church. 

In  the  providence  of  God  manifestations  of  a  better  spirit  be- 
fore long  characterized  the  chief  institutions  of  learning.  The 
fearful  ravages  of  cholera  in  Russia,  where  the  mortality  in  some 
districts  rose  to  fifty  per  cent.,  and  in  the  border  districts,  in 
1830  led  to  the  temporary  removal  of  the  students  •from  Gna- 
denfeld  to  Herrnhut.  Cranz  accompanied  them,  but  the  ser- 
vices of  members  of  the  Conference  were  drawn  upon  in  the 
emergency.  PUtt  lectured  on  Systematic  Theology  and  the 
History  of  the  Moravian  Church,  and  Curie  on  the  Sciences, 
Plitt's  lectures  in  particular  kindled  enthusiasm.  A  new  life 
began  to  animate  the  future  servants  of  the  church.  With  the 
return  to  Gnadenfeld  William  Kolbing  took  the  place  of  Cranz, 
called  elsewhere,  and  proved  to  be  the  man  for  the  place. 

The  year  1832  began  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  college, 
with  the  appointment  of  Frederick  Emanuel  Kleinschmidt  as 
Dean.  Deeply  religious,  unshaken  in  his  Biblical  faith,  strenu- 
ously insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  regeneration,  he  held  up 
before  the  teaching  force  of  the  institution  a  lofty  scholastic  and 
religious  aim.  Exact  and  wise  and  discriminating  discipline, 
together  with  an  emphatic  insistence  on  the  need  of  constant 
fellowship  of  prayer,  gradually  achieved  far-reaching  results 
through  the  formative  influence  exerted  upon  the  lives  of  those 
now  pursuing  classical  study  preparatory  to  service  in  the 
church. 

The  man  to  whose  preeminent  personality  and  noble  aims 
much  of  the  coming  improvement  would  hereafter  be  traced, 
whose  soul-stirring  addresses,  especially  in  connection  with 
centenary  celebrations  had  inspired  younger  men  with  the  high- 
est ideals,  was  not  permitted  Simeon-like  to  enjoy  personal 
sight  of  that  to  which  his  labors  had  been  particularly  directed. 
Bishop  Albertini  died  of  pectoral  fever,  on  December  6,  1831. 
He  was  in  his  sixty-third  year,  and  had  been  born  at  Neuwied 
shortly  after  his  father  had  removed  thither  from  the  Grisons. 
Educated  in  the  schools  of  the  church,  his  native  talents  had 
been  early  discovered  and  employed  first  as  an  instructor  and 
then  as  a  pastor.  Since  1820  he  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  and  since  1824  its  President. 
Burkhardt  discriminatingly  analyses  his  source  of  power  thus: 
"A  man  of  far-reaching  and  everywhere  blessed  influence,  in 


JOHN     BAPTIST    VON  ALBERTINI. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


347 


whatever  sphere  he  was  engaged,  and  most  of  all  during  the 
last  decade  of  his  life.  A  man  of  deeds,  of  affairs,  he  was  not — 
and  as  little  a  man  of  scientific  theology,  although  at  one  time 
an  instructor  in  the  theological  seminary.  His  forte  lay,  if  we 
may  say  so,  in  the  characteristics  of  his  personality.  By  virtue 
of  his  disposition  and  the  culture  of  his  Christian  Hfe  his  in- 
fluence went  forth  as  a  teacher  of  the  young,  as  a  pastor,  as 
a  preacher,  as  a  leader  of  the  church.  He  had  once  been  the 
soul  of  that  circle  of  younger  ministers  who  had  formed  an  un- 
historic  ideal  conception  of  Zinzendorf  and  of  the  church,  and 
had  lived  in  this  world  of  their  fancy.  But  through  this  very 
thing  he  had  riveted  himself  and  his  companions  to  the  church 
in  a  whole-souled  fashion,  at  a  time  when  there  had  been  a 
lack  of  apprehension  of  its  distinctive  theology,  and  of  a  scien- 
tific understanding  of  its  history.  For  him  and  his  friends 
it  had  been  a  means  of  carrying  them  over  in  safety  to  the  new 
era  in  which  they  could  serve  the  church  with  unreserved  de- 
votion and  a  consciousness  of  power.  When  in  looking  back 
upon  Schleiermacher's  departure  from  the  seminary,  to  whom 
he  had  been  bound  by  the  ties  of  youthful  friendship,  he  himself 
once  said  that  the  Son  of  Man  in  Gethsemane  had  held  him  to 
the  Unity,  he  in  those  words  discloses  his  own  inner  position 
very  clearly.  By  his  sermons  and  his  sacred  poems  he  edified 
man}'^ ;  but  everywhere  had  chiefly  wrought  through  his  win- 
some personaHty,  permeated  by  the  love  of  Christ.  With  this 
is  connected  the  characteristic  that  he  gave  his  whole  soul  to 
and  left  the  impress  of  his  entire  being  upon  every  offlce  to 
which  he  was  appointed — and  these  were  very  varied — and  in 
each  sphere  disclosed  faculties  and  traits  requisite  thereto 
which  had  not  before  been  recognized  in  him.  As  Zinzendorf 
and  Spangenberg  in  the  past,  he  in  association  with  similarly 
minded  brethren  led  up  to  the  new  era  of  the  church.  His 
memory  should  ever  be  cherished  amongst  us." 

Bishop  Romer  had  already  entered  into  his  rest  on  May  9, 
1831.  Charles  William  Just  and  Jacob  Levin  Reichel  now  took 
the  places  rendered  vacant  in  the  governing  board,  and  John 
Christian  Breutel  was  also  elected  to  the  Department  of 
Finance.  Thus  the  conference  was  once  more  constituted  of 
ten  members. 

For  the  Diaspora  these  were  years  of  varying  fortunes.  A  re- 
quest was  received  from  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 


348 


A  HISTORY  OF 


families  of  German  emigrants  from  the  Palatinate  who  had  set- 
tled in  the  vicinity  of  Neusulzfeld,  in  Poland,  that  they  be 
served  with  the  gospel.  In  the  spring  of  1829  Charles  Fred- 
erick Domke,  engaged  in  the  Diaspora  service  about  Gnaden- 
berg,  was  dispatched  in  response  and  the  church  rejoiced  to  learn 
of  the  prospect  that  its  visefulness  might  be  renewed  in  a  land 
associated  Vt^ith  the  names  of  the  fathers.  But  the  spread  of 
cholera  and  the  revolutionary  uprisings  which  in  November, 
1830,  echoed  the  strife  of  July  in  Paris,  interfered  for  a  while. 

In  the  Baltic  Provinces  the  Unity  was  brought  into  a  criti- 
cal condition  from  other  causes.  Here  it  was  estimated  that 
in  the  year  1834  more  than  forty-five  thousand  persons  be- 
longed to  Diaspora  societies.  An  imperial  edict  of  April  29  con- 
firmed the  previously  existing  liberty  of  operation,  but  with  the 
serious  limitation  that  the  national  assistants  should  henceforth 
be  permitted  only  to  read  from  the  Bible  and  from  writings  ap- 
proved by  the  consistories — a  sign  of  the  increasing  hostility 
of  the  Lutheran  clergy.  Next  year  the  German  agents  of  the 
Unity  were  placed  under  similar  restrictions.  This  hostility 
had  also  necessitated  the  closing  of  the  College  at  Henners- 
dorf  in  1832,  since  it  had  drawn  most  of  its  students  from 
Livonia,  and  of  late  Russian  influence  restrained  them  from 
seeking  an  education  among  the  Brethren. 

The  Swiss  field  suflfered  from  the  contests  between  the  aristo- 
cratic oligarchies  and  the  democratic  party  which  aimed  at  the 
abolition  of  class  privileges  that  had  been  revived  by  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna — especially  in  Basel,  when  the  division  of  the 
Canton  into  Stadt  Basel  and  Landschaft  Basel  was  devised  as 
the  basis  of  peace ;  for  of  the  twenty-eight  pastors  who  were 
forcibly  ousted  from  their  parishes  in  consequence,  no  less  than 
sixteen  had  been  affiliated  with  the  Brethren.  In  Cantons  Bern 
and  Aargau  on  the  other  hand  the  work  spread.  In  Silesia  ob- 
stacles seemed  about  to  be  put  in  the  way  by  a  royal  decree  pri- 
marily aimed  at  separatists  and  ultra-confessional  Lutherans, 
but  if  construed  rigidly  likely  to  prohibit  the  meetings  of  the 
Diaspora  as  conventicles.  But  representations  which  were 
made  by  the  church  secured  a  gracious  interpretation  of  the 
edict  and  exempted  the  societies  from  all  annoyance.  Less 
successful  was  the  appeal  to  the  Hanoverian  authorities.  In 
Saxony  the  new  constitution,  wrested  by  liberalism's  threat- 
ening movements,  confirmed  the  old  privileges  for  the  settle- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


349 


ments,  save  that  freedom  from  military  service  was  no  longer 
to  be  vouchsafed. 

Meantime  a  wholly  new  center  of  usefulness  was  disclosed. 
After  several  preliminary  visits  in  the  Department  of  the 
Somme,  John  Mentha  of  Zeist  at  the  invitation  of  pastor  Ca- 
doret  removed  permanently  to  Vadencourt  near  Amiens  in  the 
summer  of  1834,  and  hopes  were  entertained  that  the  church 
would  find  a  providential  sphere  amongst  the  people  of  north- 
ern France. 

The  year  1835  drew  attention  to  the  centenary  of  the  trans- 
fer of  the  episcopate  from  the  ancient  to  the  resuscitated  Unity, 
and  kindled  additional  reminiscences  which  should  inspire  to 
loyalty.  Valuable  researches  prosecuted  by  Frederick  Louis 
Kolbing  preparatory  to  the  anniversary  were  embodied  in  a 
monograph  now  given  to  the  public  under  the  title  Nachricht 
von  dem  Anfange  der  bischoHichen  Ordination  in  der  erneuerfen 
evangelischcn  Bruderkirche.  Bishop  Frederick  Benjamin  Reichel 
had  died  on  January  16.  It  was  appropriate  that  Kolbing  him- 
self, who  had  been  President  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence since  the  death  of  Albertini,  should  now  receive  consecra- 
tion.   This  transpired  at  Herrnhut  on  March  13,  1835. 


350 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  BRITAIN,  FROM  1818  TO  1836. 

Bishops  Moore  and  Foster  were  the  representatives  of  the 
governing  board  of  the  Unity  in  England  at  the  beginning  of  the 
trying  period  of  reaction  which  followed  the  great  war  and  ush- 
ered in  the  struggle  for  multiform  readjustments  and  innum- 
erable reforms.  When  wide-spread  distress  fell  alike  upon  the 
agricultural  and  commercial  interests,  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  organizations  of  the  Brethren  should  be  affected  and  that 
choir-establishments  could  scarcely  be  maintained. 

In  the  Bedford  district,  however,  signs  of  progress  peep  forth 
in  three  localities.  At  Stow,  in  August,  iSiS,  Elijah  Peacock 
instituted  services.  In  1822  a  similar  beginning  was  made  at 
the  neighboring  village  of  Kimbolton,  and  a  chapel  consecrated 
in  August  of  the  following  year.  John  King  Martyn,  dissatis- 
fied with  the  lack  of  provision  for  promoting  vital  godliness 
in  his  former  environment,  together  with  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  his  parishioners  came  over  wholly  into  the  membership 
of  the  Brethren's  Church,  and  served  as  minister  here  for  four- 
teen years.  Meantime  the  congregation  at  Pertenhall  was  form- 
ally organized  in  April,  1825. 

Bishop  Thomas  Moore  died  in  1823,  and  his  former  col- 
league Bishop  Foster  found  himself  face  to  face  with  grave  re- 
sponsibilities, requiring  sound  judgment  and  delicate  handling. 
In  addition  to  the  economic  perplexities  of  the  times,  well  cal- 
culated to  give  rise  to  misunderstandings,  party  spirit  was  rife 
in  Gracehill — so  much  so  that  a  visit  from  a  representative  of 
the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  was  deemed  necessary.  Wied 
was  selected  for  this  duty,  and  in  company  with  Foster  in  1823 
paid  a  protracted  visit  to  the  scene  of  trouble,  happily  suc- 
ceeding in  allaying  it.  On  his  return  in  the  early  part  of  1824 
he  extended  his  tour  to  Fulneck,  Fairfield,  Bristol,  Kingsword, 
Bath,  Tytherton  and  London. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


351 


For  some  time,  especially  at  the  Synod  of  1818,  a  desire  for 
a  regularly  organized  conferential  government  of  deputies  of 
the  governing  board  of  the  entire  Unity  had  found  expression  in 
England.  It  was  deemed  wise  to  meet  this  desire  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  With  Bishop  Foster  were  therefore  associated  as 
Provincial  Helpers,  having  residence  in  the  same  place  and  act- 
ing conjointly  and  conferentially,  James  Liley  and  Frank  Mal- 
lalieu.  The  former  was  a  pupil  of  Hartley,  and  a  man  of  simi- 
lar disposition  and  aims.  He  had  seen  service  especially  in 
Gracehill  and  Fairfield.  The  latter  had  been  a  corn-merchant 
in  Manchester,  and  was  of  particular  usefulness  in  connection 
with  financial  afifairs.  The  first  session  of  the  new  conference 
was  held  at  Bedford,  its  seat,  on  April  24,1824.  Next  year,  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  synod,  a  transfer  was  ef- 
fected to  Ockbrook. 

Despite  the  anxieties  of  the  times  two  other  efforts  at  ad- 
vance can  be  chronicled,  the  one  closely  connected  with  an  en- 
deavor to  further  develop  the  distinctive  life  of  the  Province  as 
such.  This  was  the  establishment  of  a  theological  seminary  in 
the  now  almost  vacant  Brethren's  House  at  Fulneck,  with 
Samuel  Rogers  as  chief  instructor,  and  Charles  Reichel,  as  gen- 
eral director,  he  being  at  this  time  at  the  head  of  the  other 
schools  of  the  settlement.  It  was  maintained,  however,  only 
until  1828.  Then  candidates  for  service  in  Britain  again  sought 
their  preparation  in  the  institutions  of  the  church  at  Niesky  and 
Gnadenfeld,  and  not  infrequently  commenced  their  active  career 
with  a  period  of  employment  as  teachers  in  the  schools  on  the 
Continent. 

The  other  new  beginning  was  the  founding  of  a  congregation 
in  the  vicinity  of  Manchester,  near  Oldham.  As  far  back  as 
1772  ministers  of  the  Brethren's  Church  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  and  preaching  at  Greenacres,  and  their  ministrations 
there  had  been  attended  by  visitors  from  Oldham  and  Lees. 
At  intervals,  from  1784  on,  preaching  in  private  houses  at  Lees 
had  been  maintained  until  1800.  Now  in  the  year  1823  John 
Lees,  a  member  of  the  Fairfield  congregation,  arranged  a  spa- 
cious room  at  Clarkesfield  in  a  manner  appropriate  to  divine 
worship.  This  met  with  such  encouraging  response,  that  at  the 
joint  expense  of  himself  and  two  of  his  brothers,  Mr.  Lees 
erected  a  place  of  worship  here  in  the  following  year,  and  at  his 
own  cost  provided  also  two  school  rooms,  the  furnishing  of  all 


352 


A  HISTORY  OF 


being  supplied  by  other  members  of  the  church.  In  August, 
1825,  Liley  consecrated  the  new  chapel.  John  Smith  became  the 
first  resident  minister  in  1827.  A  preaching  place  was  es- 
tablished as  a  fihal  at  Lees,  and  in  1836  the  congregation  at 
Clarkesfield,  which  had  received  the  name  of  Salem,  was  fully 
and  formally  organized,  CorneHus  West,  who  had  succeeded 
Smith  in  1829,  being  the  pastor.  From  Fairfield,  too,  preaching 
was  begun  and  maintained  at  Glossop  Bridge  in  1827. 

In  1824  a  provincial  conference  met  at  Fairfield  and  was  at- 
tended by  thirty  Brethren  (June  3  to  July  15).  Frederick  Wil- 
liam Foster  presided.  The  members  of  the  church  were  re- 
ported to  be  decreasing,  the  congregations  with  few  exceptions 
were  yearly  diminishing,  and  some  spoke  of  living  to  witness 
the  extinction  of  the  Brethren's  Unity  in  the  British  Province. 
As  against  this  impression  the  growth  of  foreign  mission  work, 
and  the  spread  of  educational  activities  at  home  were  empha- 
sized. The  theological  seminary  had  only  just  been  instituted. 
The  continuance  of  the  use  of  the  lot  in  general  was  approved, 
but  a  diversity  of  opinion  existed  as  to  the  marriage  of  ministers 
by  lot,  and  a  representation  on  this  subject  was  made  to  the 
forthcoming  general  synod.  The  spirit  of  the  conference  was 
essentially  conservative.  The  choir  regulations  were  upheld  as 
preventive  of  irregularities,  the  choir  houses  as  a  means  of  bless- 
ing, and  Diaconics  as  indispensable.  In  regard  to  finance,  it  was 
stated  that  in  several  congregations  the  salary  allowed  to  the 
ministers  was  wholly  inadequate  to  the  most  necessary  require- 
ments. Many  had,  in  consequence,  to  supplement  their  income 
by  teaching  or  by  business.  This  state  of  things  led  to  the  in- 
stitution of  "the  Ministers'  Fund,"  the  rules  of  which  were  now 
ordered  to  be  printed.  Eflforts  on  behalf  of  the  foreign  mis- 
sions are  encouraged.  Home  work  is  depressed.  Kilkeel  and 
Cootehill  and  Kilwarlin  are  without  ministers ;  the  last  has  been 
in  this  condition  for  upwards  of  thirty  years. 

Liley  died  on  March  2,  1827,  fifty-four  years  of  age,  and 
Samuel  Frederick  Church,  pastor  at  Ockbrook,  became  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  Helpers'  Conference. 

In  Ireland  the  spirit  and  aims  of  Hartley  had  been  taken  up 
by  John  Carey,  of  Dublin,  who  was  connected  with  the  "City 
Mission."  Beautiful  Cootehill,  in  County  Cavan,  his  native 
place,  was  the  first  object  of  his  laudable  endeavors.  Visiting 
here  in  1826,  he  found  that  the  congregation  as  an  organization 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


353 


had  passed  out  of  existence,  though  a  number  of  old  members 
were  still  living,  and  the  aroma  of  Moravian  teaching  still  lin- 
gered lovingly  in  memory.  The  buildings  had  some  of  them 
been  alienated,  and  all  were  in  a  more  or  less  ruined  condition. 
With  zeal  and  earnestness  he  rekindled  in  the  scattered  rem- 
nant a  desire  to  renew  the  days  of  old,  and  brought  affairs  to 
such  a  pass  that  John  Willey  was  appointed  pastor.  In  1830, 
during  another  visit,  he  could  write,  "It  is  with  surprise  and 
astonishment  that  I  contemplate  the  wonderful  improvement 
that  has  taken  place.  The  whole  of  the  buildings  in  thorough 
repair,  the  walks  and  gardens  are  elegantly  laid  out,  and  my 
heart  rejoices  at  the  sound  of  redeeming  love  once  more  heard 
among  these  verdant  meads."  He  could  write  also  of  the  pres- 
ence of  about  sixty  persons  at  divine  worship,  of  a  Sunday- 
school  of  about  one  hundred  children,  of  two  boarding-schools, 
and  of  a  general  spirit  of  hopeful  energy. 

The  year  1829  was  marked  by  the  organization  of  a  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Ireland.  Under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  committee  at  Gracehill,  Scripture-readers  were  to  be 
employed  to  itinerate  and  do  evangelistic  work.  One  of  the 
fruits  of  this  organized  concentration  of  the  missionary  zeal 
which  had  been  centering  about  Gracehill  ever  since  the  days 
of  Hartley,  and  which  was  evidenced  by  the  maintenance  of 
stated  services  at  quite  a  large  circle  of  preaching-places,  is  to 
be  found  in  the  resuscitation  of  the  work  in  the  fishing  village 
of  Kilkeel  among  the  mountains  of  Mourne.  So  highly  was 
appreciation  accorded  to  the  labors  of  the  Scripture-reader  who 
was  sent  thither  in  1829,  that  two  years  later  John  Sutcliflfe  was 
stationed  here  as  home  missionary. 

A  romantic  interest  attaches  to  another  rebuilding  of  an 
ancient  home.  Kilwarlin,  in  County  Down,  had  known  no  resi- 
dent minister  since  1798,  though  it  had  not  been  wholly  deserted 
by  the  ministers  in  Gracehill.  In  1834  it  received  aid  in  an  un- 
looked  for  way.  In  1826  family  prayers,  conducted  in  his  ab- 
sence one  da}-  by  a  lady  friend  of  the  proprietor  in  the  Bilton 
Hotel  in  DubHn,  happened  to  be  attended  amongst  the  rest  by 
Sir  WilHam  Eden  and  his  companion,  Basil  Patras  Zula,  a 
Greek  chief,  who  had  escaped  from  beleagured  Missolonghi, 
and  had  found  his  way  with  the  British  nobleman  via  Smyrna 
and  London  to  the  Irish  capital.  The  lady  was  a  member  of 
the  Moravian  Church,  and  presented  the  strangers  afterwards 
24 


354 


A  HISTORY  OF 


with  a  small  volume  giving  its  history.  Its  origination  from 
oriental  sources  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Greek  patriot. 
He  attended  the  Baptist  Street  church,  was  savingly  converted, 
and  joined  its  membership.  After  visits  to  London,  and  a  resi- 
dence in  Gracehill  in  1828  devoted  to  study,  he  prepared  sys- 
tematically to  enter  the  ministry  under  the  guidance  of  the  Dub- 
lin pastor.  Marrying  the  lady  who  had  been  his  first  instructor 
in  the  truth,  he  in  1834  gave  all  the  energy  of  his  fiery  nature 
and  the  wealth  of  his  talents  to  the  rebuilding  of  ruined  Kil- 
warlin.  Church  and  minister's  house  were  reerected,  and  the 
former  consecrated  in  March,  1835.  Large  audiences  gathered. 
Schools  were  estabHshed.  The  friendly  cooperation  of  the 
Marquis  of  Downshire,  the  owner  of  the  land  in  the  vicinity,  was 
secured.  Reorganization  of  the  congregation  was  fully  effected 
in  March,  1837;  and  in  ten  years  from  Zula's  coming,  the  mem- 
bership had  grown  from  a  paltry  remnant  of  six  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty-one. 

In  connection  with  Ireland  the  literary  work  of  John  Holmes, 
minister  in  Dublin,  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  In  1818  he  pub- 
lished the  first  account  in  English  of  the  Moravian  Missions. 
The  work  was  entitled  "Historical  Sketches  of  the  Missions  of  the 
United  Brethren."  A  few  years  later  he  issued  his  "History  of 
the  Protestant  Church  of  the  United  Brethren,"  Vol.  i  in  1825,  Vol. 
2  in  1830.  For  a  long  period  these  books  remained  standard 
works. 

Meantime  for  at  least  one  congregation  in  England  there  had 
been  a  period  of  great  anxiety.  The  intense  excitement  which 
had  attended  the  discussions  of  the  Reform  Bill  in  1831  had 
found  vent  here  and  there  in  connection  with  the  discontent  of 
the  agricultural  laborers  in  the  burning  of  hay-ricks  and  the 
smashing  of  machinery,  turbulence  far  less  formidable  than  the 
almost  contemporaneous  revolutionary  movement  on  the  Con- 
tinent. After  the  prorogation  of  Parliament  the  excitement 
deepened.  Riots  occurred  at  Derby  and  Nottingham.  But  in 
Bristol  the  madness  of  the  scum  of  that  seaport  for  two  days  in 
October  held  the  lives  and  property  of  the  people  in  jeopardy, 
breaking  open  the  jails,  and  firing  public  buildings  and  private 
dwellings — with  the  accompaniment  of  intoxication  usual  at 
such  times.  Yet  through  the  mercy  of  a  kind  Providence  the 
church  on  Maudlin  Street  was  imharmed. 


THE  MORAVIAN'  CHURCH. 


355 


Next  year  rewards  of  the  Bristol  pastor's  consecrated  enter- 
prise were  to  be  amply  apparent.  Since  1824  Charles  Frederick 
Ramftler  had  been  stationed  at  this  post,  "filling  it  with  his 
pervading  energy,"  and  blessing  it  with  the  ripe  fruit  of  his  ex- 
perienced abihty.  Within  easy  reach  of  Bristol,  on  the  banks 
of  the  picturesque  Wye,  beyond  Tintern,  was  a  village  devoid  of 
any  place  of  worship,  being  an  ultra-parochial  district.  This 
was  Brockweir,  once  a  thriving  and  populous  center  of  ship- 
building, when  its  calkers'  mallets  rang  on  the  sides  of  East  In- 
diamen,  slowly  attaining  completion  in  its  two  rival  dock-yards, 
but  now  sparsely  inhabited  and  somewhat  in  decay.  Though 
without  any  church  or  chapel  it  had  seven  public  houses,  and 
its  reputation  was  not  the  best.  In  March,  1832,  Ramftler  had 
visited  the  place  at  the  invitation  of  some  pious  people  of  the 
vicinity,  and  had  established  divine  worship.  Through  his  en- 
deavors Lewis  West  was  secured  as  resident  minister.  The 
Bristol  congregation  stood  by  their  pastor  nobly,  and  a  small 
but  neat  chapel  was  built  in  1833.  A  marked  revival  of  religion 
followed,  and  in  time  the  congregation  grew  to  number  one 
hundred  and  twenty  members.  The  laying  of  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Brockweir  chapel  on  October  15,  1832,  was  indeed  one 
of  the  last  public  services  of  Ramftler.  In  ill  health  already, 
delicate  in  constitution,  and  more  or  less  of  an  invalid  for  sev- 
eral years,  he  closed  his  career  on  October  25,  fift5''-two  years 
of  age.  Though  foreign-born  his  had  been  a  prominent  figure 
in  the  ministry  of  the  Brethren  in  England  during  the  first  three 
decades  of  the  century. 

On  March  14.  1831.  Frank  Mallalieu  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Samuel  Rudolph  Reichel,  of  Bath.  On  April  12,  1832,  the 
venerable  Bishop  Foster,  in  his  seventy-fifth  year,  entered  into 
his  rest.  Charles  Augustus  Pohlman  was  appointed  in  his 
place. 

Preparatory  to  the  synod  of  the  following  year,  a  Provincial 
conference  was  convened  at  Fulneck  on  July  i,  1835,  and  re- 
mained in  session  until  the  i8th.  Bishop  Holmes  was  Presi- 
dent. Thirty-six  members  were  present,  of  whom  seven  were 
delegates  of  congregations.  As  regards  the  internal  and  spir- 
itual state  of  the  church,  the  reports  were  cheering.  There  was 
a  general  spirit  of  prayer  in  the  congregations,  as  in  the  other 
churches  of  the  country,  an  increasing  interest  in  the  foreign 
mission  work,  and  a  willingness  to  give  financial  support  to  the 


356 


A  HISTORY  OF 


church.  Peace  and  love  prevailed  in  the  Province  as  a  whole. 
The  state  of  the  congregation  at  Gracehill,  however,  gave  cause 
for  anxiety,  and  a  letter  of  exhortation  was  addressed  to  its 
members.  It  was  decided  that  the  church  as  such  could  not  and 
should  not  interfere  in  poHtics,  but  as  individuals  the  members 
should  carry  the  spirit  of  the  church  into  all  political  duties 
which  they  discharged.  Trades  Unions  and  Orange  Lodges 
were  held  to  be  injurious.  The  statistics  of  the  last  ten  years 
were  as  follows : 

COMMUNICANTS 
1824.  2596 
1834.  2698 

Archbishop  Whately's  wish  for  a  settlement  of  the  Brethren 
on  his  estate  in  Wicklow  could  not  be  entertained,  because  it 
aimed  chiefly  at  colonization.  The  chief  causes  impeding  ex- 
tension at  home  were  want  of  time  on  the  part  of  the  ministers 
and  want  of  money.  The  Sunday-schools  are  not  alluded  to  in 
the  abstract  of  the  minutes.  Self-preservation  seems  to  have 
a  strong  hold  on  the  feeling  of  the  conference.  The  idea  of 
"guarding"  against  the  admission  of  "improper  persons"  into 
the  church  is  prominent.  The  missionary  idea  for  home  activi- 
ties seems  to  be  entirely  lost  sight  of.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
gaining  new  blood  so  much  as  of  training  the  old  blood.  There 
were  fourteen  church  schools  in  the  Province,  in  which  about 
fifty  Brethren  and  Sisters  were  employed.  It  is  stated  that  an 
abundant  blessing  rested  on  the  schools.  The  question  of 
establishing  a  theological  college  in  Dublin  was  negatived.  A 
similar  decision  was  reached  in  reference  to  a  missionary  col- 
lege in  the  British  Province.  In  regard  to  finance  the  British 
Province  drew  far  more  money  from  Germany  for  superannu- 
ated ministers  and  for  distressed  Diaconics  than  the  amount  con- 
tributed by  it  to  these  two  purposes.  The  "Provincial  Expenses 
Account"  was  instituted  with  one  hundred  shares,  to  be  divided 
among  all  the  congregations,  the  excess  above  one  hundred 
shares  to  constitute  a  reserve  fund. 


RECEIVED  TOTAL, 

MEMBERS.  including  children. 
2062  4673 
183I  5000 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


357 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA,  FROM   1818  TO  1836. 

For  the  American  congregations  one  of  the  results  of  the 
synod  of  1818  was  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Hiiffel  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Helpers'  Conference  in  the  North.  At  first  his  col- 
leagues were  John  Gebhard  Cimow,  the  administrator  of  the 
Unity's  property  in  Pennsylvania,  John  Frederick  Friiaufif,  Em- 
manuel Randthaler  and  Andrew  Benade,  the  pastors  of  the 
Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  Lititz  congregations  respectively. 
In  1822  Cunow  returned  to  Germany,  to  succeed  Verbeek  in 
the  care  of  the  Sustentation,  and  then  Louis  David  de  Schwei- 
nitz,  who  had  come  from  the  South  during  the  previous  year 
to  become  minister  at  Bethlehem  and  principal  of  the  school  for 
girls,  followed  Cunow  as  administrator  and  ex-ofificio  member 
of  the  Conference.  To  the  board  was  also  added  Thomas 
Langballe,  whom  ill-health  had  compelled  to  leave  Surinam 
in  April,  1821,  after  years  of  most  efficient  service.  But  he 
died  on  February  13,  1826.  Benade  was  consecrated  a  bishop 
at  Lititz  on  September  15,  1822,  by  Bishops  Hiififel  and  Jacob 
Van  Vleck,  being  appointed  to  succeed  the  latter,  since  1812 
President  of  the  Southern  Conference,  now  retiring  on  account 
of  age.  Theodore  Shultz,  the  new  administrator  in  the  South, 
and  Christian  Frederick  Schaaf,  the  surviving  member  of  the 
old  Conference,  constituted  the  new  Southern  executive  to- 
gether with  Benade,  and  continued  in  office  until  1829.  Mean- 
time in  1825  John  Christian  Bechler  and  Charles  Frederick  Sei- 
del  were  added  to  the  Northern  board.  With  HiifTel's  appoint- 
ment to  the  Lenity's  Elders'  Conference,  the  presidency  in  the 
North  was  assigned  to  John  Daniel  Anders,  hitherto  in  Berlin, 
I  and  consecrated  a  bishop  at  Herrnhut  on  September  16,  1827, 

'  by  Bishops  Albertini,  Wied  and  Curie.  Bishop  Benade,  becom- 
ing pastor  at  Lititz  in  1829,  also  entered  the  Northern  Con- 
ference, and  Bechler  was  transferred  to  the  South  in  his  place. 

I 


358 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Beneath  the  surface  during  these  years  the  slow  but  sure  dis- 
integration of  the  "exclusive  system"  was  preparing  the  way  for 
and  necessitating  the  changes  which  should  characterize  the 
middle  of  the  century.  The  era  of  home  missions  was  dawn- 
ing. 

In  April,  1830,  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference  in  Bethle- 
hem received  letters  from  thir  colleagues  in  the  South,  calling 
attention  to  the  rehgious  needs  of  certain  Brethren  whom  the 
general  impulse  of  removal  westward  had  drawn  to  the  primeval 
forests  and  virgin  soil  of  the  then  frontier.  Since  1825  a  num- 
ber of  Moravians  from  North  Carolina  had  settled  in  what 
later  became  Bartholomew  County,  Indiana.  In  November  a 
warm-hearted  Brother  who  had  been  actively  engaged  in  the 
Sunday-school  and  in  evangehstic  labors,  and  had  been  licensed 
to  preach,  Martin  Hauser,  a  native  of  Salem,  joined  them  for  the 
purpose  of  gathering  the  scattered  famihes  into  a  congregation. 
Land  was  still  to  be  had  at  Congress  rates.  A  tract  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  on  Haw  Creek  had  been  selected  and  en- 
tered at  Indianapohs  from  his  own  means.  But  the  country 
was  covered  with  forest,  and  had  not  even  a  cabin  or  dug-out 
upon  it.  A  clearing  had  to  be  made,  roads  opened,  a  farm 
begun  and  his  family  provided  for.  Hardships  customary  in 
pioneer  life  had  been  endured  in  the  rude  cabin  of  logs  in  which 
the  winter  had  been  passed.  Health  had  suffered  from  ex- 
posure. Were  the  Brethren  at  Bethlehem  able  to  lend  any  aid, 
lest  the  enterprise  be  nipped  in  the  bud? 

Had  a  deaf  ear  been  turned  at  this  time,  it  is  likely  that 
church  extension  would  have  perished  stillborn,  and  the 
Moravian  Church  in  America  might  have  gradually  shrivelled 
into  a  sect  interesting  chiefly  if  not  exclusively  to  the  anti- 
quarian. 

At  this  juncture  Louis  David  de  Schweinitz  as  administra- 
tor advanced  the  money  necessary  to  purchase  land  for  church 
purposes,  an  agreement  having  been  entered  into  on  January 
2,  1830,  by  Martin  Hauser,  Daniel  Ziegler,  John  Essex,  Samuel 
Rominger  and  Joseph  Spaugh,  that  they  and  their  families 
would  become  the  nucleus  of  a  congregation.  The  first  ser- 
vices were  held  at  Goshen,  as  this  settlement  was  first  named — 
later  Hope — on  June  17,  though  as  yet  the  primitive  structure 
of  logs  was  without  a  roof,  leafy  boughs  being  interlaced  over- 
head to  form  a  screen  from  the  sun.    Thirty-three  persons  par- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


359 


ticipated.  Such  was  the  primeval  condition  of  the  country, 
that  deer  wandered  in  numbers  under  the  spreading  beech  trees, 
and  at  noon,  during  the  intermission  between  the  services,  one 
too  inquisitive  denizen  of  the  forest  was  killed. 

Just  one  year  later  a  congregaton  was  formally  organized  by 
Louis  David  de  Schweinitz,  who  had  been  sent  out  to  examine 
into  the  prospects.  Additional  colonists  came  from  North  Caro- 
lina, and  in  1833  Hauser  received  ordination  at  the  hands  of 
Bishop  Anders  at  Bethlehem. 

Another  rootlet  of  the  tree  of  church  extension  was  fixed 
among  the  hills  of  eastern  New  York.  Forty  and  more  miles 
northeast  of  Albany,  in  Washington  County,  almost  on  the 
line  of  Vermont,  and  watered  by  a  rapid  brook  emptying  into  the 
Battenkill,  lies  a  secluded  valley  nestling  amongst  picturesque 
hills,  at  this  time  only  partly  cleared  and  partly  covered  with  a 
growth  of  beech  and  birch  and  maple  and  ash  and  oak.  It  had 
been  named  by  its  first  proprietors  Camden  Valley  in  honor  of 
the  famous  British  statesman  from  whom  they  received  it  by 
letters  patent.  Here  in  1770  Abraham  Biininger,  at  the  close  of 
his  career  as  a  missionary  in  the  West  Indies  and  amongst  the 
Indians,  had  retired  to  spend  his  declining  days.  Some  of  his 
descendants  had  since  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York  and 
were  prominent  members  of  the  Moravian  church  there,  now 
in  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  beloved  and  eloquent  WilHam 
Henry  Van  Vleck.  Occasional  sermons  delivered  in  the  small 
school  house  had  hitherto  constituted  all  the  gospel  privileges 
enjoyed  by  the  people  of  this  valley,  no  denomination  having 
organized  a  congregation.  The  people  were  poor,  the  condi- 
tions for  agriculture  being  unfavorable,  and  very  diversified  re- 
ligious views  were  represented  in  the  sparse  community. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  members  of  the  Bininger 
family  who  had  remained  in  the  valley  expresesd  a  desire  that 
the  Moravian  Church  should  supply  their  spiritual  needs.  Af- 
ter preHminary  visits  by  Van  Vleck  and  Jacob  Bininger  of 
New  York  in  1830  and  1831,  application  was  made  to  the  au- 
thorities at  Bethlehem  for  the  services  of  a  resident  minister. 
After  a  visit  of  investigation  by  Louis  David  de  Schweinitz, 
Charles  A.  Blech,  assistant  minister  in  New  York,  was  sent 
late  in  December,  1832,  and  commenced  to  statedly  preach  at 
Camden  Valley,  meeting  appointments  also  at  Sandgate  in  Ver- 
mont and  at  "The  Mills"  on  the  Battenkill,  two  neighboring 


360 


A  HISTORY  OF 


communities.  Gradually  a  congregation  was  gathered,  and  on 
September  29,  1834,  a  church  consecrated  by  Bishop  Anders. 
Soon  there  were  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  stated  hearers. 
Although  this  undertaking  did  not  prove  a  permanent  success, 
chiefly  because  of  internal  disagreements,  it  also  contributed  to 
the  movement  for  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the  church  in 
America. 

In  November,  1834,  a  third  new  center  of  operations  was 
occupied.  In  the  year  1820  a  considerable  number  of  German 
emigrants,  many  of  them  from  Baden,  had  settled  in  the  flats 
beside  the  Wallenpaupack,  in  "The  Beechwoods,"  then  a  region 
as  wild  as  it  was  mountainous  in  the  southern  part  of  Wayne 
County  bordering  on  Pike  County,  Pennsylvania.  Being  vnth- 
out  reHgious  priNnleges  and  acquainted  with  the  Moravian 
Church  in  their  European  home,  they  made  application  to  Beth- 
lehem for  a  pastor.  Emmanuel  Rondthaler  of  Nazareth  was 
commissioned  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  afYairs.  He  organized 
a  society  in  fellowship  with  the  JMoravian  Church.  By  the  end 
of  1837  a  church  edifice  was  erected,  and  the  settlement  became 
known  as  Hopedale.  Its  first  pastor  was  George  Ferdinand 
Troeger,  who  had  come  to  America  in  1819  and  had  served 
in  Ohio. 

Meantime  at  Salem,  on  November  11,  1855,  the  United  Breth- 
ren's Home  Missionary  Society  of  North  Carolina  was  organ- 
ized. This  was  in  consequence  of  the  visits  which  had  been 
paid  to  the  destitute  mountains  of  what  is  now  West  Virginia 
by  Vanaman  N.  Zevilly.  From  his  evangelistic  activity  sprang 
the  congregation  of  Mount  Bethel. 

But  before  these  incipient  projects  had  any  of  them  passed 
the  experimental  stage,  a  most  serious  loss  was  experienced  in 
the  death  of  the  man  who  had  lent  his  energetic  countenance 
to  two  of  them.  On  February  8,  1834,  at  the  comparatively 
early  age  of  fifty-four,  Louis  David  de  Schweinitz  entered  into 
his  rest.  Representative  as  he  was  of  the  newer  school  of 
Moravian  ministers,  enthusiastically  appreciative  of  the  distinc- 
tive characteristics  of  his  church,  he  had  been  identified  with 
everything  that  had  pointed  to  progress  in  America  in  recent 
years,  and  foresaw  that  radical  changes  were  at  hand.  Dis- 
tinguished for  his  scientific  attainments  and  having  won  recog- 
nition as  a  botanist  amongst  European  and  American  special- 
ists, his  services  to  the  church  as  a  financial  manager  had  been 


LOUIS    DAVID    DE  SCHWEINI T  Z. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


361 


preeminent  at  the  synod  of  1825  and  during  his  long  period  of 
administration,  twenty-five  years  in  all.  The  Conference  in 
Germany  appointed  as  his  successor  Philip  Henry  Goepp,  form- 
erly professor  at  Gnadenfeld,  and  of  late  a  secretary  to  the  gov- 
erning board.  He  was  destined  to  participate  in  the  changes 
which  his  predecessor  had  foreseen. 

For  the  missions  amongst  the  Indians  these  were  momentous 
years.  With  the  increase  of  white  settlers  in  the  Tuscarawas 
Valley,  Goshen  had  been  sufYering  a  steady  decline.  One  by 
one  its  Indian  families  removed  to  localities  where  game  was 
more  plentiful  and  where  the  outrages  of  border  ruffians  need 
not  be  dreaded.  For  years  the  care  of  the  reservation  on  the 
Tuscarawas  had  been  a  costly  burden  to  the  Society  for  Propa- 
gatmg  the  Gospel  as  trustees  for  the  converts.  Now  that  mis- 
sionary work  was  at  an  end,  retrocession  to  the  government 
was  not  only  inevitable,  but  v/ould  afiford  a  relief.  At  the  gen- 
eral meeting  of  the  Society  in  1822  it  was  reported  that  fully 
$32,000  had  been  expended  over  and  above  all  income  from  the 
land.  Negotiations  were  therefore  set  on  foot  which  resulted 
in  the  retrocession  of  the  reservation  to  the  United  States  in 
April,  1824.  The  Christian  Indians  were  to  receive  a  per  capita 
annuity  of  $400  or  a  new  grant  of  24,000  acres.  This  retroces- 
sion mvolved  the  abandonment  of  Beersheba,  but  Gnadenhiitten 
was  laid  out  in  town  lots  by  an  agent  of  the  government.  Not 
that  missionary  interest  and  activity  ceased.  The  first  official 
periodical  of  the  American  Church  was  just  in  the  days  of  its 
palmy  youth — The  Missionary  Intelligencer,  a  quarterly  devoted 
to  the  furtherance  of  the  foreign  missions,  and  issued  since 
January,  1822,  by  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference.  In  June, 
1823,  to  stimulate  new  interest  in  the  mission  amongst  the 
Cherokees,  with  the  consent  of  the  parent  society  the  Society 
of  the  United  Brethren  in  North  Carolina  for  the  Furtherance 
of  the  Gospel  was  organized  by  southern  members  of  the 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel.  Moreover,  a  legacy  of 
Godfrey  Haga,  a  member  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Philadel- 
phia and  of  the  missionary  society,  in  1825  placed  the  directors 
of  this  society  in  the  position  of  trustees  of  a  fund  of  about 
$200,000  for  the  benefit  of  the  American  Indian  missions  of  the 
church. 

Shortly  before  the  negotiations  for  the  retrocession  of  the 
Tuscarawas  reservation  had  been  effected,  one  of  the  most  dis- 


362 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tinguished  veterans  of  the  mission  passed  away.  This  was  John 
Gottlieb  Ernestus  Heckewelder,  who  died  at  Bethlehem  on  Jan- 
uary 31,  1823,  almost  eighty  years  of  age.  Of  old  Moravian 
stock,  he  was  born  at  Bedford  in  England  in  1743,  and  had 
come  to  Pennsylvania  in  1754.  In  1762  he  had  been  Post's 
companion  in  the  adventurous  journey  to  the  Ohio,  and  had 
labored  for  years  as  missionary  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Mich- 
igan. In  1788  he  had  been  appointed  agent  in  Ohio  for  the 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel.  Twice  he  had  served  as 
United  States  commissioner  for  negotiating  peace  with  Indian 
tribes ;  once  with  General  Rufus  Putman  at  Vincennes,  Indiana, 
in  1792,  and  next  near  Niagara  with  General  Lincoln,  Colonel 
Pickering  and  Beverly  Randolph.  Since  1810  literary  labors 
had  occupied  the  years  of  his  retirement  at  Bethlehem,  repre- 
sented by  his  three  chief  works,  An  Account  of  tJie  History,  Man- 
ners and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations  who  once  inhabited  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  neighboring  States;  A  Narrative  of  the  Missions 
of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Delaware  and  Mohegan  Indians; 
and  Names  which  the  Lenni-Lenape  or  Delaware  Indians  gave  to  tJte 
Rivers,  Streams  and  Localities,  etc. 

Meantime  the  Cherokee  mission  was  prospering.  In  June, 
1821,  Gambold,  replaced  at  the  first  station  by  Renatus  Smith, 
formerly  of  the  Canadian  mission,  commenced  a  second  station 
about  thirty  miles  distant,  at  Oochgelogy,  in  Gordon  County. 
It  soon  became  a  success.  Here  as  at  Springplace  the  young 
converts  manifested  a  desire  for  more  advanced  education. 
Already  in  1818  three  young  Cherokees  from  Springplace  had 
appeared  at  Salem  on  their  way  to  study  in  the  mission  insti- 
tute at  Cornwall,  Conn.,  and  Gambold  could  write  of  five 
others  who  had  preceded  them.  Ambition  for  assimilation  with 
the  whites  was  very  evident  amongst  the  people  of  the  upper 
towns,  though  the  tribesmen  of  the  lower  lands  had  begun  their 
movement  westwards,  having  received  from  government  an 
extensive  tract  on  the  Arkansas  and  White  Rivers  in  exchange 
for  their  ancestral  homes.  Their  brethren  who  remained  in 
Georgia  on  the  other  hand  were  making  rapid  progress.  The 
English  language  had  gained  precedence  as  the  tongue  in  which 
their  national  records  were  kept.  Hunting  had  been  largely 
exchanged  for  agriculture.  Agricultural  implements,  mills, 
machinery  for  cleaning  cotton,  etc.,  had  been  introduced. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


A  powerful  revival  of  religion  characterized  the  vk^inter  of 
1824-25.  In  the  two  succeeding  years  their  own  national  writ- 
ten constitution  was  developed,  Abraham  Hicks,  a  member  of 
the  Moravian  Church,  becoming  the  recognized  head  of  his 
people.  Dying  in  1828,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother.  Chris- 
tian Renatus  Hicks.  But  dangers  were  gathering  and  in- 
terrupted this  pleasing  progress.  Disregarding  the  solemn 
treaties  with  the  general  government  in  1785,  1791,  1798,  etc., 
the  state  of  Georgia  sought  to  extend  her  jurisdiction  over  the 
8,000  square  miles  of  Cherokee  country.  During  and  after  1827 
especially  repressive  measures  were  passed  by  the  state  legisla- 
ture. This  naturally  accellerated  the  tide  of  migration  to  the 
West.  Next  the  state  of  Georgia  directed  its  attack  against  the 
missionaries.  The  notorious  case  of  Samuel  Austin  Worcester 
outraged  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country.  But  Presi- 
dent Jackson  for  party  reasons  decHned  to  enforce  the  decision 
of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  that  the  law  of  Georgia  under  which  he  had  been  con- 
demned was  unconstitutional.  The  noble  missionary  of  the 
American  Board  had  to  sit  in  jail  like  a  felon  for  fifteen  months. 
All  whites  had  been  ordered  to  vacate  the  Cherokee  country 
by  March,  1831,  except  officials  appointed  by  the  United  States 
or  by  Georgia.  The  compulsory  withdrawal  of  all  the  Mora- 
vian missionaries  followed,  Gottlieb  Byhan  alone  excepted,  who 
resolved  to  remain  at  Springplace  in  reliance  of  his  position  as 
post-master.  His  arrest  but  speedy  release  followed.  The 
other  missionaries  had  found  a  temporary  home  with  Captain 
McNair,  across  the  border  of  Tennessee,  about  fifteen  miles  dis- 
tant, his  wife  being  a  member  of  the  church.  For  continuing 
to  visit  his  members,  Henry  G.  Clauder,  who  had  been  in  the 
field  since  1829,  was  arrested  on  March  21  by  Georgia  Guards. 
But  their  commander  upon  investigation  permitted  him  to  con- 
tinue his  ministrations,  on  condition  that  after  due  notice  had 
been  given  he  should  finally  leave  the  country  within  ten  days. 
Such  notice  came  in  July,  coupled  with  a  threat  of  imprisonment 
in  case  it  was  not  heeded.  Hence  he  returned  to  Salem  with 
his  family. 

During  the  months  of  uncertainty  services  were  meanwhile 
maintained  at  Oochgelogy  by  Hicks  and  Christian  David  Wat- 
tee,  the  native  assistants.  At  the  end  of  the  year  Byhan  sought 
release  from  his  appointment  as  post-master,  and  Clauder  re- 


364 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ceived  it  in  his  place.  During  1832  the  state  of  Georgia  divided 
the  Cherokee  country  amongst  white  people  by  lottery.  The 
mission  property  at  Oochgelogy  was  taken  from  the  church  and 
seized  by  strangers.  On  New  Year's  Day,  1833,  three  families 
compelled  Clauder  to  give  up  one-half  of  the  mission  house  at 
Springplace,  and  a  few  days  later  an  alleged  agent  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Georgia  appeared,  drove  away  the  former  intruders, 
and  ignoring  the  United  States  post-mastership,  ordered  the 
missionaries  of¥  the  premises.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years 
Springplace  became  a  county-seat,  and  the  Moravian  church 
was  turned  into  a  court-house. 

Again  McNair  accorded  the  homeless  missionaries  a  friendly 
welcome  and  provided  a  temporary  center  for  missionary  work, 
placing  a  house  and  a  plot  of  ground  at  their  disposal.  Here 
the  mission  school  was  once  more  opened  by  Miss  Ruede,  and 
a  number  of  Indian  communicants,  heads  of  families,  moving 
into  the  neighborhood,  it  seemed  as  though  a  renewal  of  the 
ruthlessly  disrupted  work  might  possibly  be  made  in  Tennes- 
see. 

During  1834  about  one  thousand  Cherokees  moved  to  Ar- 
kansas Territory,  and  in  the  years  following  dissentions  began 
to  deepen  as  to  the  policy  which  the  remainder  ought  to  pur- 
sue. In  1837  the  compulsory  removal  of  the  main  body  of  the 
people  at  length  took  place.  United  States  troops  under  Gen- 
eral Scott  facilitated  the  transportation,  and  served  as  a  guard 
both  for  the  territory  through  which  the  emigration  took  place 
and  for  the  exiles  whom  they  transported.  Thirteen  thousand 
were  thus  conveyed  during  the  autumn  of  this  year,  amongst 
whom  Avas  the  division  of  the  tribe  to  which  the  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries had  ministered.  Chief  John  Ross,  or  Kroweskowee, 
the  head  of  the  nation,  attached  to  the  Moravian  Church  by  vari- 
ous ties,  could  give  no  assurance  that  missionaries  would  be  per- 
mitted to  settle  with  their  converts  in  the  new  homes,  so  great 
a  mistrust  of  the  whites  had  been  aroused  in  the  Indian  mind 
by  the  perfidy  of  the  recent  past. 

Meantime  the  mission  at  New  Fairfied  enjoyed  a  steady 
career  of  usefulness,  though  frequent  changes  in  the  force  of 
missionaries  were  necessary.  John  Schnall  died  at  his  post 
of  duty  in  September,  i8ig,  having  been  identified  with  the 
mission  since  1801.  Abraham  Luckenbach  came  from  Goshen 
to  assume  charge.    He  had  already  served  as  a  missionary 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


amongst  the  Indians  for  nineteen  years,  and  was  to  be  the  lead- 
ing spirit  at  New  Fairfield  for  another  period  of  twenty-four 
years,  with  various  assistants  from  time  to  time. 

In  the  year  1833  C.  J.  La  Trobe  of  London,  who  visited  the 
reservation  in  the  course  of  his  travels  in  America,  described 
the  tract  as  distinguished  for  the  richness  of  its  alluvial  soil 
and  its  luxuriant  growth  of  sugar  maple,  white  pine  and  oak. 
He  pictures  the  settlement  as  formed  of  "one  principal  street 
of  rude  log  cottages,  at  some  distance  apart  from  each  other, 
stretching  across  an  open  space,  flanked  by  wheat  fields,  and 
almost  surrounded  by  a  bend  of  the  river."  About  six  hundred 
acres  were  under  cultivation. 

But  soon  an  eventful  change  took  place,  partly  on  account  of 
repeated  encroachments  of  white  settlers  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  reservation  had  been  granted  in  perpetuity.  In 
the  early  summer  of  the  very  next  year  after  La  Trobe's  visit, 
three  reliable  Indian  brethren,  Abraham,  Augustus  and  Noah, 
were  sent  to  make  reconnaissance  in  the  United  States  territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  head  waters  of  the  White 
River.  Returning  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  they  reported 
that  they  had  not  reached  the  intended  objective,  but  had  visited 
the  Delawares  about  three  hundred  and  thirty  miles  northwest 
of  St.  Louis,  from  whom  they  met  a  reception  that  could  not 
be  called  cordial.  This  report  at  first  had  dampened  the  spirit 
of  migration.  Yet  from  time  to  time  the  project  was  renewed, 
and  was  finally  carried  out  in  1837.  Meantime  the  winter  of 
1835-36  was  marked  by  a  deep  revival  of  religion,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  latter  year  the  congregation  numbered  two  hundred 
and  eighty-two  persons. 


366 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XLV. 


THE  MISSIONS  FROM  1818  TO  1836. 

On  the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe  communication  with 
Greenland  via  Copenhagen  could  again  be  regularly  maintained. 
The  obstacles  were  only  those  which  nature  placed  by  fencing 
in  the  inhospitable  coast  with  ice  blinks  and  bergs,  as  when 
Frederick  Christian  Kranich  was  lost  at  sea  in  1824,  and  in  the 
same  year  a  company  of  missionaries  encountered  ten  dreadful 
gales  in  succession  during  their  outward  voyage,  the  vessel  at 
times  becoming  unmanageable  from  the  freezing  of  the  rigging 
and  sails,  and  being  severely  damaged  off  Staatenhuk. 

Kleinschmidt's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  printed 
by  the  British  and  Foreign  Society,  the  first  copies  being  re- 
ceived in  Greenland  in  July,  1823.  The  translator  unweariedly 
continued  literary  labors  until  his  death  on  December  11,  1832. 
Parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  a  Greenland  Grammar  were  his 
additional  memorial. 

For  some  time  an  extension  of  operations  southwards  had 
been  desired,  to  reach  the  heathen  with  whom  contact  had  been 
possible  only  when  they  visited  their  favorite  herring  fishery  five 
miles  from  Lichtenau.  Narkasamia,  near  the  promontory  of 
Staatenhuk,  was  selected,  and  in  1824  Kleinschmidt  and  his  wife, 
John  Conrad  Bauss  and  his  wife,  with  John  Arnold  de  Fries  and 
IMartin  William  Popp,  made  a  commencement.  For  twelve 
weeks  tent-life  had  to  be  endured  amid  storms,  and  the  exchange 
effected  on  October  17,  was  only  to  a  sod  hut  of  narrow  dimen- 
sions. In  a  space  28  feet  by  12  the  six  missionaries  had  to  live 
as  best  they  could.  Owing  to  the  uncertainties  of  transporta- 
tion the  frame  of  their  permanent  dwelling  did  not  reach  them 
until  June  of  1828.  Moreover,  the  log  hut  which  was  erected 
but  not  completed  in  1825  to  replace  the  sod  hut,  was  almost 
blown  over  during  a  storm  early  in  November.  This  led  to  a 
removal  across  the  Koniji^sbach,  a  salmon  stream  to  the  north. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


and  beyond  it  the  permanent  station  was  established.  Popp 
meanwhile  so  suffered  from  rheumatic  fever,  that  he  returned  to 
Europe  in  1826.  Though  traces  of  ancient  buildings,  rehcs  of 
the  former  Norse  settlers,  were  discovered,  the  new  site  also 
had  its  disadvantages.  No  harbor  afforded  a  landing  for  the 
trading  vessels.  One  of  the  very  features  which  had  led  to  its 
selection,  the  supply  of  brushwood  that  promised  to  afford  fuel, 
proved  inadequate  after  a  considerable  number  of  Eskimo  fami- 
lies had  been  attracted  to  the  place,  and  dependence  had  to  be 
put  upon  imported  coals,  brought  from  JuHanenhaab.  Never- 
theless for  missionary  purposes  Friedrichsthal  was  admirably 
situated.  Umiak  after  umiak  of  heathen  South  and  East  Green- 
landers  came  to  the  place.  The  work  of  evangelization  pro- 
gressed with  marked  rapidity.  On  September  2,  1824,  the  first 
convert,  Samuel  Ivenak,  was  baptized.  By  the  end  of  1825  two 
hundred  and  fifty  Greenlanders  were  living  here. 

When  the  centenary  of  the  Greenland  mission  was  celebrated, 
January  19,  1833,  the  total  membership  of  the  mission  was  1,808 
souls.  During  the  century  one  hundred  and  two  missionaries 
had  served — some  of  them  for  remarkably  long  periods :  John 
Beck,  43  years ;  his  son  Jacob,  52 ;  John  Sorensen,  47 ;  John 
Fliegel,  41 ;  John  Gorke,  44 ;  John  Grillich,  still  in  service,  46 
years ;  and  Conrad  Kleinschmidt,  almost  40  years.  Four  mis- 
sionaries had  lost  their  lives  at  sea,  Daniel  Schneider  in  1742 ; 
the  widowed  Sister  Konigseer  and  Christian  Heinze  in  1786,  and 
Frederick  Kranich  in  1824. 

In  Labrador  the  mission  was  being  steadily  developed.  As 
in  the  case  of  Greenland,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
assisted  by  printing  various  portions  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
dialect  of  Labrador — the  Epistles  and  the  Apocalypse,  Genesis, 
etc.  Seven  hundred  hymns,  translations  by  Traugott  Martin 
and  George  Schneider,  were  printed  by  the  Society  for  the  Fur- 
therance of  the  Gospel,  and  reached  Labrador  in  1825. 

For  a  number  of  years  it  had  been  desired  that  the  arm  of  the 
mission  might  reach  out  helpfully  towards  the  heathen  of  the 
northern  stretches  of  the  coast.  In  the  spring  of  1828  the  mis- 
sionaries at  Okak  commenced  to  prepare  building  materials  for 
this  projected  extension  of  operations.  Permission  was  re- 
ceived from  the  British  government  to  found  a  fourth  station, 
coupled  with  the  use  of  the  coast  for  missionary  operations  as 
far  as  the  59th  degree  of  north  latitude.    At  length  in  1829  the 


368 


A  HISTORY  OF 


bay  of  Kangertluksoak  was  selected  by  Sturmann  and  John 
Christian  Beck,  and  in  April  of  the  following  year  Beck  and 
Jonathan  Mentzel  set  out  for  this  place  sixty  miles  distant  from 
Okak,  and  on  dog  sleds  conveyed  thither  the  framework  of  a 
house.  Every  circumstance  conspired  to  favor  the  enterprise. 
Kmoch  could  declare  that  in  all  the  thirty-three  years  of  his 
experience  he  had  never  known  a  better  condition  of  the  ice- 
encrusted  well-packed  snow  to  have  been  maintained  for  so  long 
a  period.  Though  one  hundred  and  five  journeys  in  all  were 
made  by  the  faithful  dogs,  rarely  did  it  require  more  than  one 
day  to  cover  the  sixty  miles  between  the  two  places !  By  July  8 
the  frame  was  erected  and  by  the  21st  protected  with  weather- 
boarding.  Next  day — the  programme  could  not  have  been 
better  carried  out  if  previously  arranged — the  Harmony  dropped 
anchor  in  the  bay,  and  with  her  a  sister  ship,  the  Oliver,  char- 
tered to  bring  special  stores  and  building  materials  for  the  new 
station,  named  Hebron.  The  entire  season  was  so  favorable 
that  Lundberg,  the  superintendent,  reports  a  journey  from  Xain 
to  Okak,  ninety  miles  apart,  accomplished  by  his  dogs  in  one 
day! 

But  fair  seasons  and  mild  winds  are  the  exception  in  Labra- 
dor. In  contrast  with  this  dovetailing  of  plans,  the  voyage  of 
the  Harmony  in  1836  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  she  ever 
made.  Two  hundred  miles  off  the  coast  she  met  drift  ice  in 
treacherous  masses  of  great  thickness,  often  concealed  by  a  cov- 
ering of  water  too  shallow  for  a  ship,  and  threatening  her  safety 
from  the  heaving  of  the  ground-swells.  Only  by  letting  down 
fenders  of  tow  or  "cable  junk"  was  serious  injury  averted  from 
the  vessel.  For  eight  days  she  remained  embedded  in  the  ice, 
with  not  a  drop  of  water  in  sight.  Hopedale  harbor  had  been 
clear  of  ice  only  two  days  when  she  entered  it  on  August  4 — a 
providential  circumstance  its  being  free,  otherwise  in  the  nar- 
row and  rocky  channels  destruction  would  have  been  inevitable. 
During  her  return  voyage  a  storm  raged  on  September  26, 
when  a  heavy  sea  carried  away  her  skiff  hanging  astern,  stove 
the  cabin  windows,  swamped  the  cabin,  washed  away  the  bin- 
nacle and  cook  house,  broke  the  wheel  and  nearly  killed  the  man 
beside  it.  Five  days  later  she  rescued  nine  men  from  a  wreck 
after  they  had  been  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  of  famine  and 
exposure,  one  man  dying  on  the  following  night.  For  the  mar- 
vellous protection  of  the  Lord  all  through  the  series  of  years 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


from  the  founding  of  the  mission  a  sense  of  gratitude  was  deep- 
ened in  the  hearts  of  its  friends,  when  the  events  of  this  voyage 
became  known. 

Steady  progress  and  advance  in  the  number  of  stations  and 
in  the  widening  of  educational  activities  now  characterized  the 
work  in  the  West  Indies.  On  the  Danish  islands  the  favor  of 
royalty  was  experienced  in  connection  with  a  rescript  of  Decem- 
ber 24,  1830,  which  put  the  operations  of  the  Brethren  on  the 
same  footing  with  those  of  the  State  Church,  and  the  valuable 
regard  of  the  local  government  and  of  the  planters  continued  to 
be  enjoyed.  On  the  English  islands  a  new  feature  was  introduced 
by  the  increased  activity  of  the  Anglican  Church  and  its  devel- 
opment of  a  more  thorough  organization  through  the  appoint- 
ment of  bishops  for  two  dioceses  with  their  seats  in  Jamaica 
and  Barbados.  Here,  too,  the  premonitions  of  emancipation 
were  accompanied  with  more  or  less  grave  disturbances.  As  so 
frequently,  the  turbulence  of  the  forces  of  nature  had  also  to  be 
taken  into  account,  severe  tornados  marking  several  of  the 
years  and  increasing  the  financial  burdens  of  the  work.  Most 
alarming  of  all  was  that  of  August  10  and  11,  1831,  on  Barba- 
dos. The  church  at  Sharon  was  completely  wrecked  and  the 
mission-house  damaged,  whilst  church  and  mission-house  at 
Mount  Tabor  were  left  in  complete  ruin,  the  missionaries  Zippel 
and  wife,  with  their  son  escaping  as  by  a  miracle.  This  last 
calamity  called  forth  liberal  gifts  in  England  and  America  for 
the  rebuilding  of  the  stations. 

Various  experiences  demonstrated  the  fact  that  travel  by  sea 
was  not  yet  unattended  with  dangers.  In  June,  1820,  Christian 
Glockler  and  his  wife,  together  with  Sister  Scharf  and  seven 
children  of  different  missionary  families  on  their  way  to  school, 
took  passage  for  Germany.  On  July  15  altogether  unexpect- 
edly Glockler's  wife  was  carried  oflf  by  a  maHgnant  fever  of 
which  the  mate  of  the  ship  had  previously  died.  A  sailor  in  the 
vigor  of  young  manhood  was  next  seized,  and  was  also  com- 
mitted to  the  deep.  Then  through  the  perversity  of  a  self-willed 
pilot  the  night  of  August  16  found  them  stranded  on  the  coast 
of  Holland.  Taking  to  the  boats,  and  abandoning  all  their 
effects,  unprovisioned,  with  nothing  but  their  lives  and  the 
clothing  that  had  been  hastily  donned,  the  passengers  and  the 
ship's  company  with  difficulty  made  the  island  of  Ter  Schilling. 
Here  the  burgomaster  set  an  example  of  Christian  benevolence. 
25 


370 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  castaways  were  kindly  cared  for  and  furthered  on  their  way. 
In  May  of  1823  a  thrilling  experience  was  made  by  William 
Eberman  and  his  wife,  newly  appointed  to  St.  Croix.  They  set 
sail  from  Philadelphia.  When  only  one  hundred  miles  out,  a 
sudden  squall  threw  the  ship  on  her  beam  ends.  Sister  Eber- 
man was  in  her  cabin  at  the  time.  Water  was  rapidly  pouring 
in,  and  she  was  imprisoned.  With  difficulty  a  hole  was  cut 
through  the  deck  with  axes.  When  the  rescuers  reached  her, 
they  found  the  water  already  up  to  her  neck.  Nothing  daunted, 
however,  the  brave  missionary  couple  proceeded  by  a  later 
opportunity,  ready  to  endure  hardness  for  Christ  Jesus. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1834,  after  a  Httle  more  than  one 
hundred  years  of  labor,  the  missions  on  the  Danish  islands  num- 
bered 10,321  members — in  St.  Thomas,  1,998;  St.  Croix,  6,682; 
St.  John,  1,641. 

In  Jamaica  a  new  era  had  begun.  Carmel's  pestilential  site 
was  exchanged  for  the  romantic  slopes  of  the  Mayday  Hills. 
Here  the  attention  of  Louis  Stobwasser,  when  on  an  official 
visit,  was  attracted  to  the  prospects  for  an  opening  by  the 
gathering  of  negroes  around  Samuel  Hoch  who  had  retired 
to  the  uplands  for  the  sake  of  health.  Situated  as  his  retreat 
was  near  the  summit  of  a  high  mountain,  the  torrid  heat  of  the 
lowlands  was  never  known ;  and  yet  it  never  became  so  cold  that 
fire  was  needed.  The  blue  of  the  sun-Ht  sea  feasted  the  eye  in 
the  distance.  To  the  south  the  savannah,  pasture  land  inter- 
spersed with  shady  groves,  formed  the  foreground  of  a  magni- 
ficent view.  Westward  the  Santa  Cruz  mountains,  about  ten 
miles  away  and  studded  with  coflee  plantations,  rose  beyond 
a  plain  covered  with  guinea  grass,  woodland  and  well-tilled 
fields.  To  the  northwest  undulating  tracts,  hill  after  hill, 
stretched  out  to  meet  the  horizon.  Well  might  the  spot  elicit 
its  name — Fairfield.  Stobwasser  having  disposed  of  the 
property  at  Carmel,  acquired  land  here  for  a  mission,  and 
John  Ellis,  lately  transferred  from  Antigua  to  superintend 
the  work  in  Jamaica,  undertook  the  establishment  of  opera- 
tions. A  church  was  dedicated  on  January  15,  1826.  Irwin 
Hill  was  meanwhile  doing  well,  and  a  new  church  could  soon 
be  consecrated  there,  to  be  speedily  followed  by  New  Carmel, 
Fulneck  and  Bethlehem — all  by  the  end  of  the  year  1831,  whilst 
a  new  attempt  was  also  made  at  Mesopotamia. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


And  now  came  the  anxieties  and  the  opportunities  of  the 
transition  period  leading  to  complete  emancipation.  For  a 
quarter  of  a  century  the  importation  of  blacks  from  Africa  had 
been  inhibited.  But  a  slave  population  of  six  hundred  thousand 
existed  on  the  islands  under  the  British  flag.  The  long  labors 
of  Wilberforce  and  Buxton  at  last  ripened  in  the  decree  that 
slavery  should  be  aboHshed  through  the  payment  of  twenty 
millions  sterling  as  compensation  to  the  proprietors.  This 
legislation  of  1833  was  preceded  by  various  premonitions  of 
trouble,  notably  in  Antigua  in  183 1  and  in  Jamaica  in  1833. 
As  far  back  as  1823  there  had  been  friction  between  the  As- 
sembly of  the  latter  island  and  the  home  government,  the  points 
especially  at  issue  being  the  abrogation  of  Sunday  markets,  the 
cessation  of  the  practice  of  carrying  a  whip  in  the  field  and  the 
exemption  of  women  from  all  forms  of  corporal  punishment. 
Sentiment  was  aroused  to  such  an  extent  that  there  were  threats 
of  transferring  the  allegiance  of  Jamaica  to  the  United  States, 
or  even  of  aiming  at  independence.  The  excitement  reached 
the  slaves  themselves.  Agitators  persuaded  them,  that  if  they 
did  not  now  strive  for  freedom,  emancipation  would  be  forever 
lost.  A  rebellion  broke  out  on  December  28,  1831.  The  miH- 
tary  speedily  crushed  it ;  but  property  had  been  destroyed  to  the 
value  of  $3,334,885.  A  number  of  clergymen  of  various 
churches  were  arrested  and  tried  by  martial  law,  and  acquitted, 
on  the  charge  of  inciting  the  slaves  to  rebellion.  The  animosity 
of  some  slave-holders  towards  those  who  were  trying  to  ameli- 
orate the  spiritual  condition  of  the  blacks  caused  the  destruction 
of  Wesleyan  and  Baptist  churches  in  the  parishes  of  St.  Ann, 
Trelawny  and  St.  James,  whilst  personal  insults  and  injuries 
were  sufTered  by  the  missionaries. 

During  this  time  of  excitement  Henry  GottHeb  Pfeiflfer,  the 
Moravian  missionary  at  New  Eden,  was  seized,  and  taken  to 
Mandeville  by  a  Heutenant  with  a  squad  of  thirty  men.  Explicit 
charges  were  not  forthcoming.  Trial  by  courtmartial  was  set 
for  January  15,  1832,  one  week  hence.  In  vain  did  John 
EUis  endeavor  to  secure  a  copy  of  the  indictment.  Knowledge 
in  advance  respecting  the  exact  form  of  the  accusation  was 
withheld  from  prisoner.  Verbal  testimony  for  the  defense  was 
ruled  out,  written  evidence  alone  being  admitted.  Legal  as- 
sistance was  refused,  though  he  had  only  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  English  language  and  still  less  acquaintance  with  EngHsh 


372 


A  HISTORY  OF 


legal  procedure.  Against  him  two  women  and  two  men  were 
produced.  Verbal  evidence  in  accusation  was  in  order.  Jus- 
tice seemed  suspended.  The  principal  witness  for  the  prose- 
cution was  brought  from  prison  to  the  court,  and  had  not  sat 
under  the  preaching  of  PfeiflFer  for  two  years.  Moreover  he 
was  soon  afterwards  shot  as  an  active  agent  in  the  insurrection. 
The  other  male  witness  was  more  than  suspected  of  having 
perjured  himself  in  connection  with  the  trial.  One  of  the 
women  had  been  excluded  from  church  fellowship  six  years 
previously  for  adultery,  and  had  not  been  seen  in  the  church  of 
late ;  nevertheless  she  proposed  to  testify  concerning  the  pulpit 
utterances  of  the  minister.  The  evidence  oflfered  by  the  other 
woman  was  to  the  effect  that  he  had  publicly  incited  the  negroes 
to  rebellion  in  his  address  to  them  at  Christmas — an  absurdity 
on  the  face  of  it,  since  in  the  audience  on  that  occasion  were 
persons  who  were  slaveholders.  Inevitably  acquittal  followed. 
But  amid  the  wrought-up  feelings  of  the  times  the  week  had 
been  one  of  deepest  anxiety  for  poor  Pfeififer. 

Freedom  was  not  delayed  by  the  disturbances.  By  Act  of 
Parliament  on  and  after  the  first  of  August,  1834,  slavery  be- 
came impossible  throughout  the  British  colonies.  An  appren- 
ticeship of  four  or  six  years,  according  to  the  class  of  employ- 
ment, was  however  inaugurated,  to  prevent  evils  that  might 
have  come  from  too  hastily  overturning  the  existing  order  of 
affairs.  No  less  than  311,070  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jamaica  were 
affected  by  this  beneficent  legislation.  Meanwhile  very  few 
Moravian  negroes  had  been  implicated  in  the  late  disturbances, 
even  to  the  extent  of  abandoning  their  work  for  a  few  days. 
Not  one  member  was  convicted  of  an  act  of  violence — not  even 
in  congregations  like  New  Carmel,  New  Fulneck,  Mesopotamia, 
Malvern  and  Beaufort,  near  to  the  chief  scenes  of  rebellion. 
Whole  properties  where  the  Brethren  had  been  privileged  to 
preach,  remained  perfectly  quiet,  though  incendiary  fires  were 
blazing  within  a  few  miles  of  them.  In  some  cases  Moravian 
"native  helpers"  were  entrusted  with  and  guarded  their  mas- 
ter's property,  when  he  himself  had  to  flee. 

In  anticipation  of  complete  emancipation  special  attention 
was  now  given  to  the  work  of  education.  By  March,  1834,  no 
less  than  twenty-six  Moravian  schools  were  in  operation. 

In  spite  of  all  apprehensions  Emancipation  Day,  August  I, 
1834,  a  public  holiday  by  Act  of  Assembly,  was  spent  by  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


373 


liberated  multitudes  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  significance. 
The  thankful  people  thronged  the  churches,  and  with  devout 
hallelujahs  ascribed  their  deliverance  to  Almighty  God.  The 
religious  Hfe  of  the  people  was  deepened  by  their  great  experi- 
ence. All  the  mission  stations  felt  the  impetus  of  the  change. 
Churches  had  to  be  enlarged  or  new  structures  built.  A  great 
desire  for  instruction  arose,  though  superstitions  and  obeahism 
did  not  die  in  a  day.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1835  the  total 
membership  on  the  island  was  8,521,  an  increase  of  1,339 
twelve  months. 

In  the  eastern  EngHsh  islands  a  similar  advance  took  place. 
During  the  year  1819  six  hundred  and  seventy-two  adults  were 
baptized  in  Antigua.  St.  Johns  budded  out  into  new  congre- 
gations, Newfield  in  1819  and  Cedar  Hall  in  1822.  When  Chris- 
tian Frederick  Richter  died  in  September,  1825,  he  could  rejoice 
in  the  knowledge  that  his  labors  had  not  been  in  vain.  Joseph 
Newby  followed  him  as  superintendent,  to  be  succeeded  in  turn 
by  Bennet  Harvey  in  1831.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1835  the 
mission  counted  10,654  members,  a  gain  of  about  three  thousand 
in  less  than  twenty  years. 

In  St.  Kitts  Bethesda  was  consecrated  in  1821  and  Bethel  was 
commenced  in  1831,  and  during  the  period  a  net  increase  of 
about  one  thousand  souls  brought  the  membership  to  3,168. 

In  Barbados,  where  John  Taylor  was  superintendent,  Sharon 
was  the  only  congregation  at  the  commencement  of  the  period, 
with  a  membership  of  from  two  to  three  hundred.  Tabor  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  mission  by  the  Haynes  family  of 
Bellmount  in  1826 — on  a  beautiful  elevation  commanding  a  fine 
view  out  to  sea  and  in  the  midst  of  a  populous  neighborhood 
that  supported  fifty  sugar  mills.  Both  stations  speedily  arose 
from  their  ruins  after  the  storm  of  1831,  and  a  wide-spread  re- 
vival of  religion  followed.  In  May,  1835,  the  dedication  of  a 
third  church,  on  Roebuck  Street,  in  Bridgetown,  was  Taylor's 
last  achievement,  before  yellow  fever,  fatal  to  ten  West  Indian 
missionaries  at  this  time,  brought  his  fruitful  labors  to  an  end. 
The  Barbados  mission,  exclusive  of  Bridgetown,  for  which  re- 
turns are  not  at  hand,  had  increased  to  1,441  members. 

In  1826  at  the  repeated  solicitations  of  members  of  the  Ham- 
ilton family,  who  had  sought  to  promote  the  estabHshment  of  a 
mission  there  in  ]\Iontgomery's  day,  a  renewed  attempt  was 
made  on  the  island  of  Tobago  by  Peter  Ricksecker  from  Penn- 


374 


A  HISTORY  OF 


sylvania.  The  station  at  its  dedication  two  years  later  received 
the  name  of  Montgomery.  Very  frequent  changes  in  the  mis- 
sionary force  on  this  island  were  necessitated  by  its  unhealthy 
climate;  but  at  the  end  of  the  year  1835  the  new  station  num- 
bered 309  members. 

At  the  opening  of  the  period  operations  in  the  colony  of  Suri- 
nam were  practically  confined  to  the  capital  and  a  few  estates 
whose  managers  permitted  occasional  visits  of  missionaries.  In 
January,  1821,  a  great  conflagration  swept  away  four  hundred 
buildings  in  Paramaribo,  exclusive  of  those  on  side  or  rear 
streets.  The  roaring  torrent  of  flame  came  seething  across  to 
the  very  edge  of  the  Brethren's  quarter,  and  for  twenty-four 
hours  seemed  irresistible.  Their  prayers  were  heard  in  its 
being  averted  from  the  church.  The  deliverance  was  so  signal, 
that  following  as  it  did  on  the  heels  of  a  great  mortality  from 
small-pox,  very  many  were  led  to  seriously  inquire  the  way  of 
salvation,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  ninety-six  adults  were 
baptized. 

New  estates  now  began  to  be  thrown  open — by  1826  six,  thir- 
teen during  the  following  year,  and  ninety  within  a  decade.  It 
was  impossible  to  pay  as  close  attention  to  the  slaves  as  was 
desired,  for  they  were  compelled  to  stay  within  the  limits  of  the 
estates  to  which  they  belonged,  and  during  the  early  part  of  this 
period  only  five  missionary  couples  were  stationed  in  the  cap- 
ital. But  the  effort  was  made  to  visit  each  estate  at  intervals 
of  about  eight  weeks.  Intercourse  was  had  by  water  up  the 
rivers,  the  boats  and  boatmen  for  the  regular  round  of  visits 
being  provided  through  the  Dutch  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Christian  Knowledge  amongst  the  Negroes  of  Surinam, 
founded  in  1828.  This  same  society  manifested  its  appreciation 
of  the  missionaries'  labors  by  defraying  about  half  the  cost  of 
the  new  church  which  the  increase  of  membership  in  Para- 
maribo now  rendered  necessary.  Commenced  in  July,  1827,  its 
dimensions  95  by  60  feet,  it  was  built  over  and  around  the  old 
church  in  such  a  manner  that  the  regular  round  of  the  services 
was  not  interrupted  while  its  walls  arose.  The  governor  of  the 
colony  lent  his  countenance  and  personal  financial  aid.  The 
reputation  of  the  Brethren  was  also  shown  by  the  transfer  to 
them  of  the  spiritual  care  of  the  prisoners  and  slaves  in  the  fort 
of  New  Amsterdam  and  the  suburb  of  Zeelandia  (Combe),  with 


CHRISTIAN    IGNATIUS    LA  TROBE. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


375 


the  evident  desire  of  thus  contributing  to  prepare  the  black 
population  for  emancipation. 

Though  the  Harmony  of  the  Four  Evangelists,  translated 
into  Negro-English,  had  been  published  in  1821,  as  yet  no  por- 
tion of  the  Bible  itself  had  been  printed  for  circulation  amongst 
the  negroes  of  Surinam,  few  of  them  hitherto  being  able  to  read. 
The  New  Testament  in  this  mongrel  tongue  existed  in  manu- 
script. Now  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  judged  that 
the  time  had  come  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  The 
mission  naturally  felt  the  good  efifects  of  this  beneficence ;  for 
even  where  older  persons  could  not  themselves  read,  it  often 
happened  that  their  children  could  do  this  service  for  them. 
Paramaribo  could  now  report  2,133  rnembers,  and  about  400 
were  in  addition  scattered  among  the  plantations,  whilst  Char- 
lottenburg  on  the  Cottica,  about  thirty  miles  to  the  east  of  the 
city,  was  founded  in  1835  as  a  center  of  operations  for  about 
eighty  estates. 

During  the  official  visit  of  Christian  Ignatius  La  Trobe,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  who 
landed  on  Christmas  Eve,  1815,  a  number  of  proposals  had  been 
received  for  the  commencement  of  new  missions  in  Cape  Col- 
ony. One  of  these  was  accepted.  Though  within  the  colony, 
it  was  to  furnish  a  basis  of  work  amongst  the  Kaffirs,  being  sit- 
uated on  the  White  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Sunday,  about  four 
hundred  miles  east  of  Capetown,  in  the  Uitenhagen  district. 

On  February  15,  1818,  John  Henry  Schmidt,  who  was  to 
superintend  its  establishment,  set  out  from  Groenekloof 
(Mamre),  with  his  wife  and  John  Frederick  Hofifman  and  God- 
frey Hornig.  At  Genadendal  they  were  joined  by  the  widowed 
Sister  Kohrhammer.  Their  destination  was  reached  on  April 
17;  and  several  families  of  Hottentots  from  Genadendal,  the 
nucleus  of  Enon,  as  the  new  place  was  named,  set  to  work  with 
them  to  clear  away  the  mimosa  bushes,  prepare  the  ground  for 
cultivation  and  erect  temporary  homes.  Scarcely  was  the  work 
opening  up,  when  the  border  territory  was  plunged  into  all  the 
horrors  of  a  war  of  rival  savages,  T'Gaika  and  Stambe.  On 
February  9,  1819,  a  band  of  Kaffirs  suddenly  rushed  from 
neighboring  wood  and  made  ofif  with  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  head  of  cattle  belonging  to  the  Enon.  Until  March  7  the 
mission,  isolated,  and  with  the  nearest  neighbors  a  day's  jour- 
ney distant,  was  in  expectation  of  the  worst.    Guards  were  set 


376 


A  HISTORY  OF 


day  and  night,  and  their  vigilance  alone  averted  an  actual  at- 
tack. Food  became  very  scarce.  But  at  last  the  colonial  forces 
pushed  the  raiders  back  across  the  border.  Yet  a  second  inva- 
sion followed,  and  the  mission  was  reluctantly  abandoned  by 
the  advice  of  the  colonial  authorities,  after  nine  Hottentot 
Christians  had  fallen  under  the  Kaffirs'  assegais  whilst  defend- 
ing their  herds.  At  Uitenliagen  suitable  quarters  were  ap- 
pointed, and  the  utmost  kindness  was  experienced  at  the  hands 
of  Colonel  Cuyler.  In  October,  peace  being  concluded,  John 
Peter  Hallbeck,  now  superintendent  of  the  entire  mission,  led 
the  return.  Desolation  marked  the  track  of  the  African  war- 
riors. Blackened  ruins  showed  where  houses  had  once  stood. 
Orchards  and  gardens  had  been  ruthlessly  destroyed.  Yet  it 
was  a  comfort  to  know  that  their  one  hundred  and  fifty-five 
Hottentots  were  resolved  to  stand  by  the  missionaries  at  any 
risk  and  with  them  reerect  their  Christian  village. 

About  this  time  another  product  of  Hottentot  diligence  was 
a  standing  refutation  of  the  slander  that  the  Hottentot  was  and 
must  remain  one  of  the  laziest  of  men.  Across  the  Zonderend 
at  Genadendal  under  missionary  superxTsion,  they  built  by  vol- 
untary labor  a  bridge  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  wide 
enough  for  ox-teams,  and  resting  on  five  massive  piers.  No 
such  structure  existed  in  the  entire  colony,  and  its  completion 
made  a  sensation.  But  efforts  at  improvement  suffered  a  check 
through  a  general  failure  of  the  wheat  harvest  in  1820  and  1821. 
The  price  rose  to  five  times  the  normal  figure.  During  the 
early  part  of  1822  at  Genadendal  alone  three  hundred  recipients 
of  charity  were  on  the  hands  of  Hallbeck.  Fortunately  the 
yield  of  fruit  this  year  was  unusually  large,  Schmidt's  famous 
tree  in  its  old  age  bearing  fifteen  sacks  of  pears. 

In  1823  Michael  Peterleitner  and  his  wife  took  charge  of  a 
hospital  for  lepers  recently  established  by  government  in  a  ro- 
mantic valley  under  the  shadow  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  moun- 
tain not  far  from  the  sea  coast  and  Cape  Town.  Christian  Hot- 
tentots were  amongst  the  earliest  inmates,  and  the  steward  of 
Hemel  en  Aarde,  as  the  place  was  called,  was  a  native  convert, 
the  first  instance  of  one  of  his  people  receiving  a  position  of 
trust  other  than  that  of  a  non-commissioned  officer  in  a  Hotten- 
tot regiment.  Here  the  manifest  blessing  of  God  rested  upon 
the  self-denying  labors  of  the  missionary  couple.  When  their 
teacher  died  suddenly  from  apoplexy,  whilst  in  the  act  of  ad- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


377 


ministering  baptism  on  Easter  Monday,  1829,  he  was  mourned 
as  a  father.    John  Christian  Tietze  became  his  successor. 

Meantime  in  1824  a  fourth  station  was  begun,  EUm,  about 
forty  miles  southeast  of  Genadendal.  Now  sundry  innuendos 
appeared  in  pubHc  prints  at  Cape  Town,  an  anonymous  writer 
who  shielded  his  personaHty  under  the  pseudonym  of  "Rusticus" 
alleging  that  the  missionaries  were  not  disinterested  in  their 
efforts  to  promote  the  material  welfare  of  the  natives.  As  so 
often  under  similar  circumstances,  when  the  accused  secured 
an  official  investigation  their  complete  vindication  followed,  and 
with  it  came  an  unqualified  expression  of  the  confidence  of  gov- 
ernment in  their  aims  and  methods.  Indeed,  Lord  Somerset, 
the  Governor,  in  1827  gave  special  publicity  to  his  sympathy. 
On  the  northeast  frontier  a  Tambookie  chieftain  named  Bowana 
had  requested  that  missionaries  be  sent  his  people.  The  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society,  the  Glasgow  Missionary  Society  and 
the  Wesleyans  had  already  founded  missions  in  KafTraria.  Yet 
it  pleased  the  Governor  to  solicit  from  Hallbeck  the  services  of 
the  Moravian  Church.  He  himself,  with  John  Fritsch  and  sev- 
eral natives  undertook  an  exploration  of  Bowana's  territory — 
no  pleasure  jaunt  in  the  cold  of  a  South  African  winter.  On 
June  27  snow-drifts  several  feet  high  had  to  be  passed.  On  the 
night  of  the  29th  Hallbeck's  wagon  stuck  in  the  river  Tarka, 
and  his  wet  clothing  was  frozen  stiff.  Along  the  Oskrall  and 
the  Klippaat  rivers  Bowana  pointed  out  land  eligible  for  a  mis- 
sion. In  February,  1828,  Lemmertz,  Hoffmann  and  Fritsch, 
with  twenty-odd  Hottentots  and  Wilhelmina  Stompjes,  a  Chris- 
tian Tambookie  Kaffir  woman,  set  out  for  permanent  occupa- 
tion of  Shiloh,  as  the  new  station  was  to  be  named.  But  mis- 
sion work  on  the  Klipplaat  had  to  encounter  many  obstacles. 
Bowana  found  objection  after  objection  when  it  came  to  the 
question  of  building,  notwithstanding  his  fine  speeches  of  the 
year  before.  His  Tambookies  were  stolidly  indifferent.  Then 
knavish  Fetkanna  raiders  swooped  down  on  the  cattle.  Locusts 
ravaged  the  gardens.  In  1829  Mapasa,  a  son  of  Bowana,  led 
fifty  armed  men  to  the  mission  with  a  view  to  massacre  the  very 
people  whom  his  father  had  invited.  Had  it  not  been  for  Wil- 
helmina, the  fate  of  the  strangers  had  been  sealed.  She  was  at 
work  helping  her  husband,  the  gardener  of  the  mission,  when 
her  countrymen  marched  in,  bedecked  with  gaudy  crane  feathers 
and  lavishly  smeared  paint.     The  war  dress  told  her  quick 


378 


A  HISTORY  OF 


glance  the  murderous  intent  of  the  young  chief.  Although 
Kaffir  etiquette  expected  silence  on  the  part  of  a  woman  in  an 
assembly  of  men,  she  boldly  pushed  in  amongst  the  gleaming 
assegais,  and  with  all  the  fervid  eloquence  of  a  righteously  indig- 
nant woman  dared  Mapasa  to  his  face.  With  reproaches  for  his 
treachery,  she  energetically  bade  him  begone.  Somewhere  be- 
neath his  war  paint  the  young  African  possessed  a  conscience^ 
and  this  conscience  the  honest  fideHty  of  Wilhelmina  touched. 
He  gave  orders  to  withdraw,  and  next  day  sent  an  apology  for 
having  caused  alarm. 

Now  a  change  for  the  better  set  in.  Early  in  the  next  year 
the  baptism  of  the  first  converts  took  place,  one  of  them  the 
future  mother  of  John  Nakin,  hereafter  to  grace  the  record  as 
consecrated  native  minister.  By  December,  1835,  Adolphus 
Bonatz  preached  to  340  Tambookies  in  addition  to  his  162  Hot- 
tentots, and  the  former  could  enjoy  the  Church  Litany  and  the 
history  of  our  Lord's  passion  and  death  in  their  own  tongue. 
Tambookies  stooped  to  agriculture,  and  old  prejudices  were 
breaking  down. 

Meanwhile  at  Genadendal  a  remarkable  revival  of  religion 
blessed  the  year  1833.  When  slavery  was  aboHshed,  on  Decem- 
ber I,  1834,  the  mission  in  the  Colony  had  reached  a  member- 
ship of  2,386. 

In  all  the  missionaries  of  the  Moravian  Church  now  had 
51,000  souls  in  their  recognized  care. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


379 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1836. 

When  the  general  synod  of  1836  convened  in  Herrnhut  on 
May  30,  the  revolutionary  movements  of  the  thirties  were  over. 
On  the  surface  there  lay  a  treacherous  calm.  The  theory  of 
government  which  dispensed  alike  with  popular  interference 
and  with  popular  criticism,  seemed  to  have  enthroned  itself 
especially  amid  the  multitude  of  states  which  constituted  the 
loosely-knit  confederation  of  the  Germanic  peoples.  The  tend- 
ency of  the  age  to  the  average  observer  appeared  to  be  fully 
set  towards  conservatism,  and  this  affected  the  gathering  of 
representatives  of  the  church.  It  needed  the  vision  of  a  seer 
to  discern  the  vast  convulsions  of  many  a  populace  which  only 
twelve  years  hence  should  bring  on  throes  of  revolution  more 
significant  than  any  yet  chronicled  in  the  century.  And  it 
needed  scarcely  less  prophetic  foresight  to  anticipate  a  cor- 
respondent upheaval  in  the  life  of  the  Moravian  Church  within 
the  next  twenty  years.  The  conservation  of  the  old  and  estab- 
lished, identified  as  it  was  with  the  accepted  conception  of  what 
was  supposed  to  be  the  acme  of  the  Unity's  healthiest  inner 
state,  formed  the  standard  for  strivings  and  endeavors.  Bishop 
Curie  presided. 

A  thorough  discussion  of  the  doctrinal  standpoint  and  of  the 
constitution  of  the  Unity  left  everything  unchanged.  The  need 
of  having  all  appointments  to  office  confirmed  by  the  lot  was 
strenuously  affirmed.  Yet  in  connection  with  the  ritual  cer- 
tain minor  concessions  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  seemed  inevit- 
able. The  "Kiss  of  Peace"  may  give  place  to  "the  Right  Hand 
of  Fellowship"  at  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  where 
the  former  no  longer  tends  to  edification;  and  whilst  the  per- 
sonal interview  of  every  member  with  the  spiritual  leaders  of 
the  several  choirs  is  still  recognized  as  the  most  desirable  mode 
of  procedure  in  preparation  for  the  enjoyment  of  this  sacra- 


38o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ment,  it  is  admitted  that  in  various  congregations  insurmount- 
able difficulties  are  in  the  way ;  in  such  cases  pastoral  visits  must 
be  the  substitute. 

From  June  12  to  22  the  general  sessions  of  the  synod  yielded 
to  the  deliberations  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  pre- 
sided over  by  Samuel  Christlieb  Reichel.  Its  report  presented 
a  state  of  afifairs  indicative  of  careful  management.  The  gen- 
eral finances  of  the  church  and  of  the  diaconies  of  the  several 
congregations  seemed  to  have  materially  improved  during  the 
past  eleven  years.  The  capital  of  the  sinking  fund  for  the  ex- 
tinguishment of  the  debt  had  been  almost  doubled  by  donations, 
legacies  and  careful  investments. 

A  similarly  encouraging  outlook  could  be  presented  by  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Missions,  whose  sessions  were  held  from 
July  14  to  19,  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop  Curie.  Notwith- 
standing the  marked  growth  of  the  work  in  recent  years,  the 
accounts  showed  a  small  surplus,  so  liberally  had  friends  as  well 
as  members  of  the  church  come  forward  to  the  support  of  the 
work. 

The  thirty-nine  schools  in  various  lands  were  reported  to  be 
in  a  flourishing  condition  on  the  whole.  Discussion  was  again 
had  with  reference  to  the  advisabiHty  of  removing  the  sem- 
inary from  Gnadenfeld,  and  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  was 
requested  to  give  this  important  matter  its  most  thorough  and 
earnest  consideration  at  the  first  opportunity.  If  practicable, 
the  removal  was  reconmiended  for  the  next  autumn.  On  the 
other  hand  synod  expressed  an  unwillingness  to  authorize  the 
establishment  of  a  distinctive  institution  for  the  training  of 
missionaries.  It  regarded  the  "Brethren's  Houses"  and  teach- 
erships  in  the  various  schools  as  the  best  forms  of  preparation. 

The  election  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  resulted  as 
follows :  the  Department  of  Finance,  Samuel  Christlieb  Reichel, 
John  Ballein  and  Christian  William  Matthiesen ;  the  Depart- 
ment of  Missions,  Bishops  Wied  and  Anders  and  John  Christian 
Breutel ;  the  Department  of  Education  and  the  Pastoral  Office, 
Bishops  Kolbing  and  Curie  and  Frederick  Renatus  FrueaufT. 
Bishop  Kolbing  was  reelected  President.  Peter  La  Trobe  was 
appointed  Sccrctarius  Unitatis  in  Anglia,  and  Count  Henry  55th 
Reuss,  Advocafns.  John  Plitt  was  clothed  with  the  office  of 
Archivist  at  Herrnhut. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 


THE  CHURCH  ON  THE  CONTINENT  OF  EUROPE,  FROM  1836  TO  1857. 

That  the  men  responsible  for  the  administration  of  afifairs 
vigorously  endeavored  to  discharge  their  obligations  as  intelli- 
gently as  possible  during  the  years  which  preceded  the  consti- 
tutional changes  must  be  conceded.  If  they  failed  to  wholly 
satisfy  those  whose  interests  they  served,  it  was  from  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  system  itself.  Indefatigable  activity  was  dis- 
played in  connection  with  official  visits.  The  circle  of  officials 
at  Berthelsdorf  was  rarely  complete.  Often  the  visits  covered 
a  considerable  time.  With  it  all,  frequent  changes  in  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  Conference  made  it  difficult  to  maintain  continuity 
in  office,  important  under  existing  regulations.  On  December 
13,  1840,  Bishop  Kolbing  died.  Bishop  Curie  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent, and  John  Martin  Nitschmann  filled  the  vacancy  in  the 
board.  Then  Bishop  Wied  was  called  home,  on  March  7,  1844. 
He  had  been  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  church  for  more  than 
half  a  century,  twenty  years  as  superintendent  of  the  mission 
in  Surinam,  and  since  181 1  a  member  of  the  governing  board. 
John  Gottlieb  Hermann,  born  at  Niesky  in  1789,  but  identified 
with  the  American  congregations  since  1817,  and  since  1836  a 
member  of  the  Helpers'  Conference  at  Bethlehem,  was  trans- 
ferred to  Berthelsdorf.  Next  year,  1845,  Bishop  Anders  re- 
tired owing  to  failing  health,  and  died  on  November  5,  1847. 
His  successor  was  Christian  Frederick  Benjamin  Gregor. 

Since  the  close  of  the  Zinzendorfian  era  the  Moravian  Church 
had  been  led  to  consider  that  it  had  providentially  received  a 
three-fold  calling — to  energetically  labor  for  the  unevangelized 
heathen  and  especially  for  such  whom  others  passed  by,  to 
serve  as  a  leaven  imparting  vital  faith  and  promoting  simple 
godliness  amongst  members  of  state  churches  without  requir- 
ing them  to  withdraw  allegiance  from  the  confession  with  which 
they  had  been  familiar  from  childhood,  and  to  promote  the 


382 


A  HISTORY  OF 


avowedly  Christian  education  of  the  young  in  order  to  win  them 
early  for  Christ  and  implant  the  principles  of  active  Christian 
character,  whilst  avoiding  proselytism.  The  second  phase  of 
activity  was  now  to  receive  a  fatal  blow.  This  was  the  arbitrary 
repression  of  the  Diaspora  in  Livonia  by  the  hand  of  irrespon- 
sible imperial  power  guided  by  evangeUcal  bigotry. 

Deeply  taught  by  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  the  Napo- 
leonic wars,  Czar  Alexander  I  of  Russia  profoundly  desired  to 
promote  heart  reHgion  amongst  his  subjects.  He  himself  had 
come  under  the  influence  of  the  writings  of  Madame  Von  Krii- 
dener  and  Jung  Stilling.  His  visit  to  Herrnhut  in  1813  and  the 
favorable  testimony  of  others  had  disposed  him  to  appreciate 
the  work  of  the  Brethren  in  various  parts  of  his  empire.  At 
least  two  of  his  trusted  advisers.  Prince  Galitzin  and  Count 
later  Prince  Lieven,  shared  with  him  this  high  regard  for  the 
Moravian  Church — the  latter  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was 
sometimes  sneeringly  called  "the  Moravian."  Accordingly  the 
ukase  of  1817  had  placed  the  Diaspora  in  the  Baltic  Provinces 
on  a  very  favorable  footing,  even  though  complete  reUgious 
liberty  was  not  granted.  Amongst  the  rest  it  declared:  "We 
permit  the  above  members  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  in  accord- 
ance with  previous  practice,  for  the  spiritual  welfare  and  salva- 
tion of  the  Livonians,  Esthonians  and  others  who  desire  it,  to 
erect  and  estabHsh  prayer-halls  in  the  cities,  villages  and  ham- 
lets, and  to  hold  them  under  their  supervision,  with  the  consent 
of  the  owner  of  the  landed  property  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
civil  authorities — and  this  without  hindrance.  All  who  desire 
are  at  liberty  to  assemble  in  these  prayer-halls,  in  accordance 
with  existing  usage,  at  hours  other  than  those  set  apart  for  the 
stated  services  of  the  churches,  provided  it  be  in  time  free  from 
the  obligation  to  labor.  These  meetings  for  prayer,  for  the 
reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  for  instruction  in  morality, 
shall  stand  under  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  elders 
and  members  of  the  Brethren's  Church."  This  favorable  edict 
contributed  in  a  marked  degree  to  the  progress  of  the  Diaspora 
in  the  Russian  Empire.  But  this  very  prosperity  aroused  feel- 
ings of  hostility.  In  the  year  1832  Czar  Nicholas  granted  a 
new  constitution  to  the  Lutheran  Church  within  his  dominions. 
In  his  case  there  was  a  lack  of  the  personally  favorable  disposi- 
tion in  relation  to  the  Brethren  which  had  distinguished  his 
predecessor.    His  entire  character  inclined  him  to  fixedly  regu- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


lated  and  sharply  defined  relationships  in  church  and  state — 
witness  his  codification  of  the  laws  of  Russia  in  1830.  This 
offered  an  opportunity  which  the  theologians  at  Dorpat  and 
the  ultra  Lutheran  clergy  were  not  slow  to  utilize.  First  the 
right  of  the  Brethren  to  deliver  free  addresses  was  challenged, 
and  such  an  interpretation  was  sought  for  the  language  of  the 
edict  of  Alexander  I  as  would  limit  them  to  the  reading  of  ser- 
mons or  other  compositions  previously  approved  by  the  con- 
sistories. Then  the  effort  was  made  to  interfere  with  the  ser- 
vices of  Russian-born  subjects  who  had  been  appointed  the 
"national  assistants"  of  the  German  laborers.  And  finally  in 
1840  the  blow  fell.  An  edict  was  secured  placing  the  super- 
vision of  the  prayer-halls  of  the  Moravian  Diaspora  in  the  Baltic 
Provinces  under  the  Lutheran  consistories.  It  was  further  ex- 
pressly stipulated  that  the  spiritual  exercises  should  be  confined 
to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  without  any  comment,  and  to 
the  singing  of  hymns  and  the  offering  of  fixed  forms  of  prayer 
which  had  been  examined  and  approved  by  the  consistories. 
The  administration  of  the  sacraments  was  prohibited.  The 
labors  of  the  Germans  appointed  to  this  work  must  be  confined 
to  the  places  where  they  resided ;  they  were  not  to  itinerate. 

One  immediate  effect  of  this  diplomatic  stroke  on  the  part 
of  the  hostile  evangelical  clergy  was  that  out  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty-five  prayer-halls  only  twelve  practically  remained  under 
control  of  the  Brethren,  and  even  these  with  hampering  condi- 
tions. Had  the  edict  been  enforced  literally  and  without  excep- 
tions, the  end  of  the  Diaspora  in  the  Baltic  Provinces  would  have 
come.  At  best  an  uncertain,  crippled  existence  was  main- 
tained. 

In  pleasing  contrast  to  the  oppressive  treatment  of  Russia 
several  occurrences  marked  the  truer  esteem  in  which  the 
church  was  held  elsewhere.  In  1841  King  Frederick  William 
III  of  Prussia  decreed  that  the  title  to  its  estates  in  his  do- 
minions might  be  held  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  as  a 
corporate  body.  The  nominal  proprietorship  of  individuals 
could  therefore  come  to  an  end.  Similar  concessions  were 
granted  in  Saxony  in  1844.  To  these  concessions  was  attached 
the  stipulation  that  the  Conference  should  receive  a  power  of 
attorney  from  the  general  synod  of  the  Unity  authorizing  it  to 
hold  its  trust  in  the  name  of  the  church ;  and  in  order  that  the 
synod  might  be  in  a  position  to  confer  power  of  this  nature  and 


384 


A  HISTORY  OF 


in  a  manner  recognized  as  legal  by  the  Saxon  Government,  the 
further  condition  was  implied,  that  the  synod  itself  should  be 
constituted  of  representatives  whose  credentials  should  be  at- 
tested in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  various  lands  whence 
they  came.  All  this  contributed  to  the  movement  for  consti- 
tutional change  now  proceeding  within  the  Unity  itself. 

Another  token  of  regard  on  the  part  of  others  was  manifested 
in  connection  with  the  resuscitation  of  the  episcopate  for  the 
so-called  "Unitdts-gcmeinden"  in  Prussian  Posen.  These  were 
five  congregations  which  constituted  the  remnant  of  the  once 
flourishing  Polish  Province  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  After  the 
second  destruction  of  Lissa,  during  the  closing  years  of  the 
seventeenth  and  the  opening  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
what  remained  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  Poland,  Hungary, 
Transylvania  and  Silesia  had  gradually  been  amalgamated  with 
other  evangelical  bodies,  and  in  particular  with  the  Reformed 
Church,  yielding  to  the  tendency  set  in  motion  by  the  Union 
Synod  of  Sendomir.  In  1817  the  King  of  Prussia  had  achieved 
a  further  amalgamation  by  combining  the  Lutherans  and  Re- 
formed of  his  dominions  into  the  Unirtc  Kirchc.  Yet  these  five 
"Unitdts-gemeindcn"  of  Posen  amid  all  changes  maintained  the 
seniorate  or  episcopate  which  they  had  received  from  the  Unitas 
Fratrum — a  succession  of  ten  bishops  since  the  days  of  David 
Cassius.  They  were  the  churches  at  Posen,  Lissa,  Lasswitz, 
Waschke  and  Orzeszkowo,  and  formed  part  of  the  State  Church 
of  the  Province  of  Posen,  being  officially  designated  "Diocese 
Posen  II."  Their  bishop  or  "Senior"  was  ex-ofRcio  a  member 
of  the  royal  consistory  of  the  province.  The  five  congregations 
unitedly  possessed  the  remnant  of  a  church  fund  known  as  the 
"Unitdts-fond,"  and  enjoyed  the  right  of  electing  their  "Senior." 
They  had  their  annual  district  synod  and  an  annual  convention 
of  pastors.  Otherwise  they  were  distinguished  from  the  rest 
of  the  congregations  under  the  royal  consistory  only  by  certain 
peculiarities  of  ritual  and  of  church  judicature  preserved  from 
former  days. 

In  the  year  1841  Samuel  David  Hanke,  their  bishop,  died 
without  consecrating  a  successor.  Doctor  Siedler  was  elected 
to  this  office  in  Posen  in  January,  1843.  the  suggestion  of 
King  Frederick  William  III  of  Prussia,  and  with  the  cordial 
consent  of  the  Prussian  cabinet,  he  sought  consecration  from 
the  bishops  of  the  Unity  at  Berthelsdorf.    This  was  willingly 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


imparted  at  Herrnhut  on  June  16,  1844,  by  Bishop  Curie,  as- 
sisted by  Bishops  Levin  Reichel  and  John  Martin  Nitschmann ; 
and  thus  the  resuscitated  Unity  was  anew  connected  with  rep- 
resentatives of  the  church  of  the  forefathers. 

jMeantime  for  the  inner  life  of  the  European  congregations 
significant  events  were  transpiring.  The  wholesome  and 
searching  influence  of  Frederick  Emanuel  Kleinschmidt  upon 
the  student-hfe  of  the  church  during  his  term  of  office  as  co- 
principal  of  the  college  at  Niesky  from  1832  to  1839  was  fol- 
lowed for  a  year  and  a  half  by  the  even  deeper  effect  of  his 
sermons  and  expository  lectures  as  co-pastor.  Meantime  on 
the  foundations  which  he  had  laid  in  the  college  other  earnest 
men — notably  Ernest  Reichel  and  Gustavus  Tietzen — continued 
to  build.  The  truth,  that  personal  experience  of  the  new  birth 
is  an  indispensable  condition  of  all  efforts  to  do  what  is  pleasing 
to  God,  and  the  corollary,  that  unqualified  conscientiousness  in 
the  fulfillment  of  duties  must  be  the  consequence  and  sign  of 
the  experience  of  the  new  birth,  became  germinal  ideas.  The 
students  were  in  a  peculiar  receptive  state,  when  the  centenary 
of  the  experiences  commemorated  by  the  entire  Unity  on  No- 
vember 13,  1841,  drew  the  thoughts  of  all  to  an  examination  of 
their  personal  relationship  to  Christ.  This  coincided  with  the 
return  of  the  sons  of  Prince  Reuss-Stohnsdorf  from  their 
father's  death-bed,  deeply  affected.  The  Lord  poured  down- 
His  grace  in  rich  measure.  A  true  revival  of  religion  charac- 
terized the  life  of  the  students  in  the  days  and  weeks  following 
the  festival.  It  became  the  joy  of  their  instructors  to  lead  them 
to  assurance.  Most  helpful  was  the  influence  of  Tietzen.  By 
the  grace  of  God  the  awakening  was  preserved  from  every  taint 
of  the  fanciful  or  fanatic.  In  the  simplicity  of  faith  forgiveness 
was  accepted.  Peace  and.  joy  were  calmly  received.  Desire 
for  and  appreciation  of  fellowship  in  prayer  were  manifested. 
Yet  all  the  wholesome  spirited  traits  of  young  manhood  re- 
mained. But  conversation  was  well  guarded.  Conscientious 
fulfillment  of  duties  and  industrious  use  of  opportunities  dis- 
placed the  usual  weaknesses  and  foibles  of  student  days. 

The  peculiar  significance  of  this  renewal  of  spiritual  Hfe  and 
earnest  purpose  just  here  is  readily  apparent.  Here,  alike  in 
the  circle  of  instructors  and  officers  and  in  that  of  the  taught, 
were  many  who  should  hereafter  carry  far  the  influence  of 
these  indeHble  experiences  by  their  service  of  the  church  in  the 
26 


386 


A  HISTORY  OF 


pastorate,  in  charge  of  administrative  activities,  in  the  Diaspora, 
in  the  foreign  field.  By  those  who  remained  in  the  ranks  of 
the  laity  a  similar  apprehension  of  her  mission  was  spread 
through  the  membership  of  the  congregations.  Together  with 
the  centenary  celebration  of  1822  this  revival  served  to  mark  a 
new  epoch. 

Gravest  complications  were  however  at  hand  before  the  new 
life  could  develop  new  form.s  and  regulations  more  suited  to  its 
needs  than  the  old  and  outlived.  Years  of  scarcity  from  floods 
or  other  natural  causes,  deepened  the  popular  discontent  and 
furnished  opportunities  for  poHtical  agitators.  High  prices  be- 
gan to  rule  already  in  the  spring  of  1845.  The  Rhine  over- 
flowed its  banks  at  Neuwied  in  March,  so  that  the  water  stood 
several  feet  deep  on  the  floor  of  the  church,  lacking  only  three 
feet  of  the  high-water  mark  of  1784.  Then  came  a  poor  har- 
vest, general,  not  merely  local.  The  scarcity  was  not  relieved 
next  year,  for  another  poor  harvest  followed.  Not  even  did 
the  wide-spread  distress  cease  in  1847.  Instead  of  driving  the 
people  to  take  refuge  in  God,  a  rank  crop  of  infideHty  sprang 
like  a  fungus  growth  from  the  soil  soured  by  discontent  and  the 
decay  of  industries.  France,  often  the  pulse  of  Europe,  first 
showed  the  symptoms  of  fever  in  the  popular  life.  From 
France  the  contagion  spread  to  Germany.  A  bloody  conflict 
raged  in  the  streets  of  Berlin  for  hours  on  March  18.  Den- 
mark's internal  troubles  filled  Christiansfeld  with  billeted  sol- 
diery. In  Vienna  the  mob  sacked  the  palace  of  Prince  Metter- 
nich.  The  kings  of  Saxony  and  Wiirttemberg  granted  new  and 
more  liberal  constitutions  to  their  subjects.  Bavaria  had  its 
insurrection.  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi  grasped  the  chance  to 
commence  their  work  of  redeeming  Italy.  Lombardy  was  in- 
vaded. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  convulsions,  portending  it  was 
impossible  to  fortell  what  eventful  outcome,  that  a  general 
synod  once  more  convened  at  Herrnhut  on  May  29,  destined 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  constitution 
of  the  church.  Bishop  John  G.  Hermann  presided.  A  leaning 
towards  liberalism  was  apparent.  On  the  Continent  of  Europe 
new  congregations  might  hereafter  be  commenced  where  op- 
portunity afforded  and  need  arose,  to  be  patterned  moreover 
not  after  the  exclusive  "settlements,"  but  after  the  town  and 
country  congregations.    In  the  case  of  the  "settlements'"  them- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


selves  the  membership  should  not  be  restricted  to  those  who  re- 
sided within  the  locality  and  were  subject  to  its  civil  and  com- 
munal regulations,  but  might  include  persons  in  immediately 
adjacent  parts  who  sought  fellowship.  The  requests  of  the 
American  congregations  were  practically  granted,  and  carried 
with  them  the  pledge  of  a  future  change  in  the  constitution  of 
the  Unity.  Provincial  synods  with  full  legislative  power  in 
reference  to  purely  Provincial  afifairs  should  be  convened  at  in  ■ 
tervals  of  six  years  in  each  division  of  the  Unity — the  Ameri- 
can being  regarded  as  two  distinct  Provinces  in  this  respect. 
All  incumbents  of  Provincial  offices,  all  pastors  and  brethren 
in  active  ser\iice  were  to  have  seats  and  votes  in  these  assem- 
bHes,  and  each  congregation  should  enjoy  lay  representation. 
The  President  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  should  be 
ex-ofUcio  the  president  of  the  Provincial  synod.  The  synod  of  the 
British  Province  should  nominate  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference for  its  approval  the  members  of  its  governing  board. 
In  America  the  procedure  should  obtain  which  had  been  mapped 
out  by  the  preparatory  conference  of  1847.  Thus  the  first  stage 
in  the  development  of  Provincial  independence  was  attaind.  Its 
influence  upon  the  future  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America 
within  a  generation  should  exceed  the  expectations  of  the  most 
sanguine  of  those  whose  deliberations  projected  and  whose  en- 
ergies secured  these  important  concessions.  The  Unity's  Eld- 
ers' Conference  was  anew  constituted  of  the  same  members  as 
previously,  save  that  the  venerable  Frederick  Renatus  Frueauff, 
eighty-five  years  of  age,  asked  to  be  released  from  active  ser- 
vice after  a  career  of  sixty-one  years.  Joseph  Reinhold  Ron- 
ner  was  elected  to  the  vacancy.  Not  until  the  6th  did  this  im- 
portant gathering  bring  its  labors  to  a  close. 

Hardly  were  its  members  homeward  bound,  when  the  thun- 
ders of  revolution  again  resounded.  Prussia,  Saxony,  the 
Palatinate,  Baden,  Denmark — all  of  them  suffered  from  civil 
strife.  Konigsfeld  and  Christiansfeld  were  both  deprived  of  the 
use  of  their  churches,  requisitioned  as  hospitals.  But  even 
more  important  consequences  were  felt  in  the  impetus  given  to 
migration  to  the  great  western  El  Dorado  and  to  AustraHa.  In 
1850  the  removal  of  a  compact  body  of  Diaspora  members  from 
Giersdorf  riear  Herrnhut  to  West  Salem  in  Illinois  called  forth 
such  sympathy  that  contributions  were  solicited  to  aid  them 
in  establishing  a  congregation  school  in  their  new  home.  Nor 


388 


A  HISTORY  OF 


were  the  Australians  forgotten.  In  the  same  year  Christopher 
Schondorf  of  Gnadenfeld  received  a  call  to  minister  to  former 
members  and  friends  who  had  settled  in  South  Australia,  and 
who  desired  to  maintain  connection  with  the  church.  Arriv- 
ing at  Adelaide  after  a  tedious  voyage  of  one  hundred  and  six 
days,  he  organized  a  congregation  at  Light's  Pass,  forty-nve 
or  fifty  miles  away,  where  a  church  was  consecrated  on  Palm 
Sunday,  1854. 

Characteristic  of  this  era  of  the  advance  of  political  liberal- 
ism and  of  the  formation  of  the  Gustavus  Adolphus  Associa- 
tion, and  of  the  foundation  of  the  Deutsche  Zeifschrift  fur  chrisi- 
liche  Wissenschaft  und  christlichcs  Lehen,  by  Neander,  Nitsch  and 
Aliiller,  was  the  movement  in  the  interest  of  free  cooperation 
for  the  defense  of  the  faith  against  the  attacks  of  a  false  freedom 
of  thought.  This  defensive  movement  found  its  expression  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Church  Diet  (Kirchcntag)  in  Witten- 
berg in  1848.  In  its  annual  conventions  the  Diet  paid  atten- 
tion to  the  maintenance  of  an  Evangelical  Alliance,  such  as 
had  been  realized  in  England  since  1845,  ^""^  to  the  work  of 
"Inner  Missions."  Representatives  of  the  Unity  participated 
in  the  various  conventions,  men  like  Frederick  William  Kolb- 
ing.  Charles  von  Biilow,  Ernest  Reichel  and  Kleinschmidt. 
Moreover  the  purposes  and  characteristics  of  the  Unity  were 
now  brought  to  the  attention  of  a  wide  circle  by  the  publica- 
tion of  a  considerable  historical  work,  Ernest  William  Croger's 
Geschichte  der  erncuerten  Bnidcr-Kirchc,  which  was  issued  in 
several  parts,  the  first  being  published  at  Gnadau  in  1851.  The 
author  had  been  appointed  historiographer  in  accordance  with 
action  taken  by  the  synod  of  1848.  Particular  interest  in  his- 
torical matters  had  then  been  aroused  by  the  report  of  the  ac- 
quirement for  the  Archives  of  Plitt's  voluminous  manuscript 
Dcnkiciirdighciten  aiis  der  alfcn  und  iicuen  Bruder-Geschichtc, 
which  furnished  well  collated  materials  for  a  history  down  to 
1818.  And  the  interest  had  been  further  stimulated  by  the  re- 
ported purchase  of  the  large  and  valuable  collection  of  "Lissa 
Folios."  These  were  thirteen  folio  volumes  of  Latin  and 
Bohemian  documents,  once  forming  a  part  of  the  old  archives 
of  the  church  at  Lissa.  collected  subsequent  to  the  destruction 
of  the  former  archives  in  the  conflagration  at  Leitomischl  in 
1546.  Discovered  by  Frederick  Emmanuel  Kleinschmidt  in 
1836,  and  examined  by  Plitt.  their  value  had  led  to  their  early 


r 


ERNEST    WILLIAM  CRoGER. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


acquirement.  Croger  had  indeed  aimed  to  furnish  neither  a 
critical  nor  an  exhaustive  historj^  of  the  resuscitated  Unity ;  but 
he  laid  the  churcli  under  indebtedness  by  his  work,  carried 
down  to  the  centenary  of  the  founding  of  Herrnhut.  It  min- 
istered to  edification  within  the  pale  of  the  Unity,  afforded  a 
ready  means  of  acquainting  others  with  her  essential  traits,  and 
served  to  stimulate  more  critical  research,  besides  erecting  a 
monument  to  the  past  at  a  time  when  the  transition  period  was 
about  to  emerge  into  the  modern  era  of  a  more  liberal  consti- 
tution and  ever  developing  activities. 

Fluctuating  fortunes  attended  the  Diaspora,  here  prosperity 
and  growth,  there  failure  or  contraction.  It  was  judged  that 
the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  to  change  the  societies  in  Mont- 
mirail  and  Locle  into  fully  constituted  congregations.  Yet 
Jonathan  Kramer  was  directed  to  confine  his  services  to  Locle, 
so  as  to  become  to  all  intents  and  purposes  pastor  loci,  with 
Theodore  Schutz  as  his  assistant.  Elsewhere  there  was  also 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  Brethren  engaged  in  this  phase  of 
evangeHsm — in  Brieg,  in  the  Westerwald  and  in  Poland.  Livo- 
nia continued  to  have  trying  experiences.  Nor  did  success  at- 
tend the  plan  cherished  by  the  Provincial  synod  of  1856  for  a 
resuscitation  of  Herrnhaag,  now  vacated  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years.  Bordeaux  had  also  to  be  abandoned  on  the 
death  of  John  Louis  Shiep  in  1856,  since  the  committee  in 
charge  of  the  Mariners'  Chapel  in  which  he  had  ministered  pro- 
cured his  successor  from  another  communion. 

Several  of  the  older  men  passed  away  just  as  the  constitu- 
tional changes  anticipated  by  the  legislation  of  1848  were  be- 
ginning to  be  keenly  agitated.  In  1849  Bishop  Hermann  had 
returned  to  America,  to  succeed  Bishop  WilHam  Henry  Van 
Vleck  in  Salem.  In  his  place  Godfrey  Andrew  Cunow,  of  the 
British  Board,  had  been  summoned  to  Herrnhut.  Bishop 
Schneider  had  died  on  March  23,  and  Gregor  on  April  19. 
Frederick  WiUiam  Kolbing,  although  a  much  younger  man,  had 
been  carried  off  by  a  stroke  on  May  24.  Ernest  Frederick 
Reichel  and  Charles  Frederick  Schordan  were  made  members 
of  the  Conference.  The  retirement  of  the  aged  Samuel  Christ- 
lieb  Reichel  in  1852  created  another  vacancy,  filled  by  the  elec- 
tion of  Charles  Frederick  Kluge,  administrator  in  North  Caro- 
lina. Reichel  enjo)'ed  only  a  brief  evening  of  rest.  On  April 
2,  1853,  he  was  called  home.     Born  at  Barby  on  January  30, 


390 


A  HISTORY  OF 


1/74,  where  his  father  was  a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference, he  had  served  as  professor  in  the  college  from  1795  to 
1801,  and  in  the  seminary  from  1801  to  1808,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence. In  1821  he  became  a  member  of  the  Board  itself,  two 
years  later  entering  the  sphere  in  which  he  should  render  most 
distinguished  services — the  Department  of  Finance.  In  1848 
the  synod  had  pubHcly  recognized  that  the  improved  financial 
status  was  due  to  his  unwearied  energy,  consummate  ability 
and  painstaking  fidelity,  under  the  blessing  of  God.  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  following  year  Joseph  Reinhold  Ronner  resigned  from 
the  Department  of  Missions  on  account  of  failing  health,  and 
the  venerable  Bishop  Curie  retired  from  active  service,  to  be 
called  home  on  February  19,  1855.  Charles  William  Jahn  of 
Sarepta  was  chosen  for  the  vacancy  in  the  Department  of  Edu- 
cation and  the  Pastoral  Office,  whilst  Henry  Rudolph  Wull- 
schlaegel,  the  leader  in  Surinam  since  1849,  became  a  member 
of  the  Mission  Board. 

By  this  time  the  agitation  of  needful  changes  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  church  had  been  gathering  headway,  especially  in 
America.  There  it  had  been  felt  for  some  decades  that  the 
Moravian  Church  could  not  fulfill  her  calling,  if  hampered  by 
the  remnants  of  the  exclusive  system  and  by  an  absence  of 
home  rule.  These  convictions  had  been  definitely  formulated 
in  a  Provincial  synod  held  at  Bethlehem  from  May  2  to  23, 
1855.  Agreement  had  been  reached  as  to  various  matters  of 
fundamental  importance,  and  a  memorial  had  been  drafted  for 
presentation  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  adducing  rea- 
sons why  these  changes  were  deemed  requisite,  and  requesting 
that  a  general  synod  be  convened  at  an  early  day  to  act  in  the 
premises.  Briefly  the  desiderata  were  as  follows :  supervision 
of  Provincial  aflfairs  by  a  board,  the  members  of  which  shall  all 
be  elected  by  the  Provincial  synod,  and  serve  as  its  executive ; 
power  of  self-organization  to  be  granted  to  this  board,  in  place 
of  having  its  President  selected  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence;  accountability  of  this  executive  board  to  the  Provincial 
synod,  and  not  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  for  all  acts 
that  concern  the  Province  as  such ;  nomination  of  the  bishops 
of  the  Province  by  the  Province  itself  and  not  by  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference ;  the  appointment  of  the  administrator  in 
America  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  and  his  account- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ability  as  such  to  this  board  alone,  he  being  no  longer  ex-oificio 
connected  with  the  supervision  of  the  congregations  in  America ; 
and  with  this  the  impHed  separation  of  the  Unity's  funds  and 
properties  from  Provincial  funds  and  properties.  Upon  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  memorial  a  call  was  issued  for  a  general  synod  in 
May,  1857,  to  be  preceded  by  preparatory  synods  in  each  of  the 
Provinces.  Now  discussions  of  all  issues  pertinent  to  the  most 
fundamental  principles  of  constitution,  polity  and  discipHne,  or 
relating  to  the  most  divergent  points  and  to  questions  only  in- 
directly involved,  followed  in  the  Fraternal  Messenger  in  Eng- 
land, the  Bruder-Blatt  and  the  Moravian  in  America — and  in 
various  pamphlets.  Most  noteworthy  of  the  latter  were  Die 
Bruder-Kirche :  Was  ist  Wahrheit?  by  "Forscher,"  which  ap- 
peared anonymously  in  1856,  without  the  imprint  of  any  publi- 
cation house,  and  Dcr  Forscher  beleuchtet,  by  Henry  Levin 
Reichel,  issued  at  Lobau  in  the  same  year.  "Forscher"  was 
understood  to  be  a  Moravian  missionary  in  Jamaica,  whose 
years  of  faithful  and  efficient  devotion  to  the  cause  should  have 
been  sufficient  proof  of  his  loyalty  and  sincerity  of  purpose  had 
he  chosen  to  come  out  over  his  own  signature.  He  attacked 
especially  the  commonly  received  view  of  the  "chief  eldership" 
of  Christ,  with  regard  to  which  some  since  the  celebration  of 
1841  had  used  language  unwarranted  by  the  position  of  the 
church  as  defined  in  her  Synodal  Results ;  the  abuse  of  the  lot ; 
the  society-theory  of  the  Brethren's  Church  as  contrasted  with 
the  independent  churchly  conception ;  the  exclusivism  of  the 
"settlement"'  regulations ;  the  alliance  of  secular  business  and 
spiritual  life  which  was  involved  in  the  "Diacony  system ;"  and 
he  maintained  that  these  were  the  causes  why  the  Unity  had 
fallen  from  her  first  high  estate.  Whilst  the  manner  and 
phraseology  of  his  presentation,  unfortunately  very  keen  and 
almost  excessively  ruthless  as  it  still  appears  in  certain  passages, 
doubtless  repelled  the  semi-conservative  whom  less  incisively 
denunciatory  and  more  calmly  argumentative  persuasion  might 
have  won  over,  and  whilst  the  weak  points  in  the  statement  of 
historical  premises  were  conclusively  exposed  by  his  enlight- 
ener,  the  fact  undoubtedly  remains  that  "Forscher's"  pungent 
pamphlet  was  one  of  the  instrumentalities  overruled  for  good, 
and  that  it  did  contribute  to  the  improvement  which  became 
apparent  in  succeeding  years.  The  new  wine  of  the  revived  life 
of  the  Unity,  revived  variously  in  the  dif¥erent  Provinces,  could 


392 


A  HISTORY  OF 


not  be  kept  in  the  old  skins.  These  very  discussions  indicated 
a  ferment  which  was  rending  them.  Most  of  the  results  at 
which  "Forscher"  aimed  have  been  achieved  during  the  decades 
that  have  transpired,  and  the  correctness  of  his  aims  has  been 
demonstrated,  if  not  of  his  premises  or  of  the  entire  process  of 
his  argumentation.  But  at  the  time  intense  feeling  was 
aroused.  The  mere  receipt  of  the  Am.erican  resolutions  had 
been  sufficient  to  call  forth  gloomy  forebodings  with  respect  to 
the  future  of  the  Moravian  Church  as  a  Unity  of  the  Brethren. 
To  German  minds  disruption  seemed  not  at  all  improbable  if 
the  American  desires  were  conceded.  The  German  prepara- 
tory synod,  in  session  at  Herrnhut  from  May  19  to  24,  domi- 
nated by  the  conservative  spirit,  was  unable  to  appreciate  all 
that  was  involved  in  the  utterly  divergent  conditions  of  Ameri- 
can religious  life  with  its  absolute  freedom  of  operations.  The 
American  memorial  seemed  tantamount  to  a  declaration  of  a 
desire  for  the  dissolution  of  the  bonds  of  the  Unity.  They 
therefore  asked  the  preparatory  American  synod  in  the  North 
to  reconsider  its  position.  To  some  in  America  even  this  dis- 
cussion of  the  American  proposals  by  the  German  Provincial 
synod  appeared  to  involve  a  transgression  of  constitutional 
functions.  They  held  that  in  so  doing  the  German  Province 
had  fallen  into  the  error  of  identifying  the  Unity  with  itself,  and 
solemnly  protested  against  what  appeared  to  them  equivalent 
to  a  prejudgment  of  the  entire  case,  since  the  German  Province 
at  the  general  synod  had  sufficient  representatives  to  outvote 
the  other  two  Provinces  combined.  They  overlooked  the  fact 
that  no  preparatory  synod  at  this  juncture  could  do  its  work 
without  considering  their  memorial.  Had  the  strife  of  the  pen 
continued  much  longer,  the  end  of  the  Unity  might  well  have 
followed.  In  the  event  the  providence  of  God  mercifully  directed 
all  to  the  strengthening  of  the  church's  usefulness  and  to  an  en- 
larged apprehension  of  her  commission. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


393 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 


THE   CHURCH    IN   BRITAIN   AND   IRELAND   FROM    1836  TO  1857. 

Soon  after  the  synod  Samuel  Frederick  Church  died  at  Ock- 
brook,  and  John  King  Martyn  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
Conference.  In  1842,  the  venerable  Charles  Augustus  Pohlman 
was  incapacitated  by  a  stroke  whilst  officiating  in  Bristol. 
Bishop  John  Beck  Holmes,  the  English  historian  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church  and  its  missions,  for  many  years  pastor  of  the 
Fulneck  congregation,  also  died  here  on  September  3,  1843. 
He  was  in  his  76th  year.  His  father,  the  captain  of  a  Danish 
whaler,  had  been  led  to  Christ  by  the  missionary  Beck,  when  a 
passenger  on  his  ship  en  voyage  for  Greenland.  Educated  at 
Christiansfeld,  Niesky  and  Barby,  his  activity  since  1791  had 
found  a  sphere  wholly  in  the  British  isles.  After  the  death  of 
Pohlman,  Bishop  Martyn  became  President  of  the  Confer- 
ence at  Ockbrook,  and  as  the  third  member  Benjamin  SeifYerth 
was  chosen.  In  autumn,  1846,  however,  Martyn  resigned  as  a 
member  of  the  board,  owing  to  failing  health.  Seifferth  now 
became  President,  and  on  October  26  was  consecrated  a  bishop. 
The  vacancy  in  the  board  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of 
Godfrey  Andrew  Cunow. 

For  these  brethren,  as  indeed  for  all  those  who  were  charged 
with  responsibilities  of  office  in  the  British  isles,  the  closing 
years  of  the  period  must  have  been  heavily  burdened  with  anxie- 
ties. Every  enterprise  felt  the  stress  of  the  times.  On  the  one 
hand  the  revival  of  Chartism  threatened  unknown  and  vague 
troubles  of  a  sort  impossible  to  foresee.  On  the  other  hand,  as  far 
back  as  1845,  the  poor  harvests  of  continental  Europe  had  their 
counterpart  in  the  appearance  of  the  potato-rot  in  Ireland,  the 
disease  of  the  chief  article  of  Irish  subsistence  becoming  almost 
universal  in  1847,  whilst  the  blight  of  the  intervening  year  also 
led  up  to  the  intensity  of  general  distress.    At  length  "famine" 


394 


A  HISTORY  OF 


became  the  dreadfully  appropriate  term  to  describe  the  real 
state  of  millions  of  human  beings.  One  million  and  a  quarter 
joined  the  vast  tide  of  migration  to  the  United  States  in  the 
years  just  before  and  during  and  immediately  after  the  calamity. 
Business  failures  in  England  demonstrated  the  interdependence 
of  commercial  relations  in  modern  Hfe. 

Nevertheless  there  were  various  reachings  out  for  a  widen- 
ing of  influence.  Wibsey  (Horton)  was  given  up  in  1837,  but 
in  1839  John  Carey  became  pastor  in  Little  Horton.  Mora- 
vian evangelists  had  been  known  here  as  far  back  as  1742,  but 
the  present  undertaking  found  rootage  through  the  efTorts  of 
Joseph  HinchclifYe  of  Horton  Hall  Academy,  a  famous  school 
in  its  day.  The  Bedford  group  also  received  an  accession  in  1839. 
A  couple  of  miles  northv.-est  of  Kimbolton,  watered  by  the  same 
brook,  the  purling  Kym,  lies  the  little  village  of  Tillbrook,  amid 
the  sam.e  delightfully  rural  scenery.  Here  services  were  now 
commenced,  and  the  pastor  of  Kimbolton  found  welcome  oppor- 
tunity to  extend  his  sphere  of  usefulness. 

Xor  was  the  Irish  work  without  its  efforts  at  extension.  In 
1842  John  Birtill  purchased  an  unfinished  mansion  at  Sandy 
Bay,  and  shortly  after  converted  one  of  its  large  rooms  into  a 
place  of  worship.  This  house  was  but  three  miles  from  Glenavy, 
where  Cennick  had  preached  in  September,  1750,  to  several 
thousand  people.  The  grounds  sloped  down  to  the  shores  of 
Lough  Neagh.  But  in  1846  Birtill  was  transferred  to  Kilkeel, 
and  the  exigencies  of  the  day  caused  his  former  pastoral  rela- 
tions to  be  made  good  only  by  the  visits  of  a  Scripture  reader. 
Even  this  substitute  failed  with  the  removal  of  the  latter  brother 
to  Ballinderry,  and  ere  long  the  property  passed  from  the  church 
by  sale. 

Meantime  various  efforts  were  made  to  maintain  the  connec- 
tion of  the  English  and  Irish  churches  with  those  on  the  Conti- 
nent, the  bands  of  fellowship  being  strengthened  by  an  official 
visit  of  Renatus  Frueauff  in  1837. 

A  Provincial  conference  was  held  at  Fairfield  from  June  30 
to  July  16,  1847,  Benjamin  SeifTerth  presiding.  The  "Results" 
of  1836  were  followed  as  the  basis  of  business.  Exception  was 
taken  to  the  articles  on  Baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  Con- 
fession in  the  Augsburg  Confession.  A  proposal  to  the  forth- 
coming synod  was  adopted,  abrogating  assent  to  the  Augsburg 
Confession  on  the  part  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  or  exempting 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


395 


the  British  Province  from  its  operation.  Since  1835  there  was 
an  increase  of  53  communicants,  a  decrease  of  457  "Received 
jMembers"  and  a  total  decrease  of  51.  "Reception"  was  still 
to  be  made  subject  to  the  decision  of  the  lot.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  undertake  the  publication  of  a  new  hymnal  util- 
izing the  work  done  for  this  purpose  by  James  Montgomery. 
Peter  La  Trobe  was  commissioned  to  edit  a  cheap  edition  of 
the  Tune  book.  A  new  scheme  for  preparing  young  men  for 
the  ministry  was  adopted,  and  a  fund  inaugurated  in  support 
of  this  undertaking.  The  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel 
in  Ireland  was  found  to  be  in  a  languid  state,  and  efforts  were 
to  be  made  to  revive  it.  For  the  temporal  relief  of  the  dis- 
tressed congregations  in  Ireland  £365  had  been  raised  in  the 
English  congregations.  Of  this  amount  £150  had  been  ex- 
pended in  seed  corn. 

Agitation,  discussion,  an  ever-widening  desire  to  attain  re- 
newed vigor  and  usefulness — these  are  the  chief  characteristics 
of  the  British  Province  in  the  years  preceding  the  fundamental 
changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  Unity.  Opportunity  for  ad- 
ditional preparatory  discussion  was  afforded  both  by  the  con- 
vocation of  Provincial  synods,  in  1853  and  1856,  and  also  by 
the  rise  of  religious  periodicals,  the  Fraternal  Messenger  and  the 
Moravian  Magazine.  The  former,  a  private  and  independent 
enterprise,  projected  and  carried  out  by  its  editor,  John  Carey, 
came  into  existence  in  1850.  In  its  pages  many  a  pointed  in- 
quisition was  made  into  usages  which  had  pursued  the  even 
tenor  of  their  way  hitherto  unchallenged,  warnings  were  uttered 
against  actual  or  supposed  failings  of  the  church,  bugle  notes 
rang  out  clearly  to  challenge  an  advance  of  the  cross  standard, 
and  fraternal  thrusts  were  exchanged  in  numerous  give-and- 
take  debates.  If  something  of  the  air  of  a  free  lance  appears 
in  his  paragraphs,  so  abundantly  militant,  there  is  nevertheless 
never  an  absence  of  the  deeply  chivalrous  consecration  of  a 
true  crusader,  nor  can  the  devotion  of  this  champion  of  reform 
to  his  denominational  standard  be  ever  questioned.  As  in  the 
case  of  Forscher,  his  stoutest  blows  proved  rather  stimulative 
than  annihilative  or  really  detrimental.  The  Moravian  Maga- 
zine, like  the  Fraternal  Messenger  a  monthly,  was  published  as 
an  official  organ  of  the  church,  at  the  instance  of  the  synod  of 
1853,  and  had  for  its  editors  WilHam  Edwards,  John  England 


39^ 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  G.  L.  Herman.  Its  publication  was  suspended,  however, 
in  the  following  year  for  lack  of  support. 

At  the  head  of  afifairs,  with  residence  at  Ockbrook,  were  now 
Bishop  Benjamin  Seiflferth,  with  Samuel  Rudolph  Reichel  and 
Godfrey  Andrew  Cunow.  In  London,  Peter  La  Trobe  served 
as  secretary,  and  William  Mallalieu  as  agent  of  missions. 
Cunow  was  called  to  Berthelsdorf  in  1849  ^i^d  Bishop  William 
Essex  took  his  place.  The  death  of  Bishop  Martyn  at  Bristol 
on  August  18,  this  same  year,  only  forty-five  years  of  age,  fell 
Hke  a  sudden  blow  upon  the  church ;  and  this  loss  was  followed 
by  the  death  of  Bishop  Essex,  in  1852.  WiUiam  Edwards,  pas- 
tor of  Fulneck,  was  given  the  duties  hitherto  discharged  by  the 
latter. 

Again  new  beginnings  were  attempted.  Four  or  five  miles 
southeast  of  Glastonbury,  redolent  with  memories  of  masterful 
Abbot  Dunstan,  is  the  Httle  village  of  Baltonsborough,  with 
about  800  inhabitants  in  1852,  mainly  freeholders,  occupying 
comfortable  farms  or  neat  cottages.  But  for  years  prophecy 
had  been  precious  in  these  parts.  High  church  preaching  of 
morality  had  been  succeeded  by  veneration  of  crosses  and 
candles  and  vestments  and  altar  pieces.  In  the  midst  of  this 
spiritual  dearth  a  Mr.  Whitehead  was  awakened  through  the 
visits  of  a  godly  minister  of  a  neighboring  village  to  his  mother 
when  critically  ill.  Becoming  acquainted  with  James  La  Trobe, 
the  Moravian  minister  at  Bristol,  he  invited  him  to  come  to 
Baltonsborough  and  preach  in  a  neat  Gothic  chapel  of  stone, 
which  he  had  recently  built.  Another  Moravian  minister,  J.  J. 
Montgomery,  came  hither  for  his  health,  and  upon  his  recovery 
accepted  the  new  pastorate. 

In  Batheaston,  a  suburb  of  Bath,  on  the  Frome,  an  earnest 
Christian  family  soHcited  the  aid  of  Austin  Smith  in  endeavors 
to  wholesomely  influence  this  and  surrounding  villages.  He 
commenced  his  labors  on  September  i,  1853.  The  number  of 
stated  hearers  so  increased  that  soon  a  room  capable  of  accom- 
modating upwards  of  three  hundred  persons  was  secured. 
Unfortunately  this  interesting  undertaking  did  not  attain  per- 
manence. 

When  superannuated  in  1856,  John  Carey,  on  retiring  to 
Greengates,  near  Apperley,  Leeds,  could  not  be  contentedly 
inactive,  but  must  needs  inaugurate  a  mission. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


397 


Once  more  also  the  founding  of  a  theological  seminary  was 
attempted  in  a  modest  way,  at  Bedford,  in  1854,  in  charge  of 
John  England,  who  in  the  following  year  received  Bennet  Har- 
vey as  an  assistant  in  the  pulpit  and  the  pastorate.  Voluntary 
subscriptions  provided  largely  for  the  support  of  the  undertak- 
ing, but  it  came  to  an  end  in  1857. 

As  in  America  the  preparatory  S3^nod  of  1856,  at  Fulneck, 
largely  voiced  demands  for  reform,  though  the  requests  were 
somewhat  more  conservative  in  tenor.  It  was  proposed  that 
the  members  of  the  Provincial  board  should  continue  to  dis- 
charge a  double  responsibility.  The  President  of  the  Confer- 
ence should  be  designated  by  the  Unity's  board  from  among 
those  elected  by  Provincial  synod.  Thus  appointed  the  Pro- 
vincial Helpers  were  to  be  accountable  to  the  Provincial  synod 
for  the  proper  management  of  the  local  concerns  of  the 
Province,  and  accountable  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference 
for  maintaining  sound  doctrine,  and  the  affairs  of  the  Unity  in 
general. 

Synod  further  determined  that  in  order  to  further  home  mis- 
sions, the  Province  should  be  divided  into  four  Districts,  three 
in  England  and  one  in  Ireland,  in  each  of  which  a  District  con- 
ference should  be  statedly  convened.  In  each  of  these  Districts 
associations  should  be  estabHshed,  which  should  jointly  form 
a  Moravian  Home  Mission  Society,  under  the  direction  of  a 
committee  consisting  of  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference 
and  one  brother  from  each  District  conference,  of  which  Dis- 
trict conference  he  shall  be  the  secretary.  In  addition,  a  gen- 
eral secretary,  C.  E.  Sutcliffe,  pastor  of  Dukinfield,  and  a  gen- 
eral treasurer.  Brother  Phillips,  the  delegate  of  the  Bristol  con- 
gregation, were  forthwith  elected.  It  was  suggested  that  each 
District  should  at  the  start  support  one  home  missionary. 

Two  deaths  yet  require  to  be  chronicled.  James  Montgom- 
ery, the  beloved  hymn-writer  of  the  Unity,  died  at  Shefrield, 
April  30,  1854.  Born  on  November  4,  1771,  at  Irvine,  in  Scot- 
land, his  father  being  the  Moravian  pastor  there  and  later  a 
missionary  in  the  West  Indies,  he  had  been  educated  in  Ful- 
neck School.  As  editor  of  the  Sheffield  Iris  twice  suffering  im- 
prisonment for  his  devotion  to  Hberty  and  personal  rights,  he 
had  also  deservedly  earned  a  national  reputation  as  a  devo- 
tional poet,  and  more  than  local  esteem  as  a  philanthropist.  A 
typical  jNIoravian  in  spirit  and  principle,  he  cherished  his  fel- 


398 


A  HISTORY  OF 


lowship  with  Fulneck,  restored  in  matured  life,  and  b}-  temper- 
ance and  prudence  and  godliness  had  prolonged  the  powers  of 
a  naturally  weak  constitution  to  more  than  four  score  years. 
In  the  same  year  John  Willing  Warren,  Esq.,  the  venerable 
President  of  the  London  Association  in  Aid  of  ^Moravian  Mis- 
sions ever  since  its  organization  in  1817,  passed  away  at  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty-five.  His  successor  in  this  office  of 
fraternal  aid  was  Sir  Edward  N.  Buxton,  Bart. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


399 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 


THE  AMERICAN  CONGREGATIONS,  FROM  1836  TO  1857. 

In  both  North  and  South  the  church  was  awakening  to  its 
responsibilities  in  relation  to  missions  at  home.  The  United 
Brethren's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  North  Carolina  did 
not  confine  its  operations  to  the  districts  around  Mount  Bethel. 
Its  semi-annual  meetings  called  attention  to  neglected  neighbor- 
hoods in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Salem.  Henry  A.  Shultz, 
pastor  of  Friedberg,  was  especially  active  in  seeking  out  new 
fields,  and  established  preaching-places  at  Coolspring,  Good- 
hope  and  Hopewell,  and  as  a  result  the  Nev/  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation was  organized  on  July  6,  1846. 

In  the  North  the  progress  was  more  striking.  Hope  became 
the  starting  point  for  wider  activity  in  Indiana,  and  the  congre- 
gations in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  Ohio,  extended  their  in- 
fluence. In  1840  Herman  J.  Tietze,  of  Gnadenhiitten,  com- 
menced to  preach  statedly  at  Dover,  and  in  1843  3.  separate 
pastoral  charge  was  created  here,  in  care  of  Lewis  F.  Kamp- 
mann.  In  1844  Martin  Hauser's  zeal  for  a  second  time  subordi- 
nated family  comforts  to  the  good  of  the  church,  and  as  the 
leader  of  another  company  of  colonists  from  the  southern  con- 
gregations he  pushed  forward  to  the  alluvial  prairie  between 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  in  southern  Illinois,  there  to  found 
New  Salem — later  known  as  West  Salem.  In  April,  1846,  Hope 
branched  out  into  a  filial,  Enon. 

Meantime  significant  movements  were  in  progress  in  the 
older  congregations.  In  1842  the  state  of  the  financial  affairs 
of  the  establishments  for  unmarried  women  and  widows  at 
Bethlehem  had  caused  the  transfer  of  their  business  manage- 
ment to  the  hands  of  men.  During  the  year  1843  the  proprie- 
torship in  the  north  had  been  transferred  to  Philip  H.  Goepp, 
the  administrator.  The  maintenance  of  the  old  exclusive  sys- 
tem of  a  t3'pical  "settlement"  had  been  fovmd  too  onerous  at 


400 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Bethlehem,  having  frequently  necessitated  the  purchase  of  prop- 
erty for  the  church  to  prevent  its  falling  into  the  hands  of  others 
than  members.  Hence  the  congregation  council  on  January 
II,  1844,  decided  on  the  abolition  of  the  local  exclusive  arrange- 
ments ;  and  this  became  the  initial  step  which  led  up  finally  to 
changes  in  the  entire  constitution  of  the  church. 

At  this  time  also  changes  took  place  in  the  incumbency  of  the 
various  Provincial  offices.  In  1844,  John  Christian  Jacobson, 
recently  principal  of  the  school  and  co-pastor  at  Salem  as  well 
as  a  member  of  the  governing  board  in  the  South  and  now 
about  to  become  principal  of  Nazareth  Hall,  together  with  Wil- 
liam Eberman  entered  the  governing  board  in  the  North.  The 
retirement  from  active  service  of  Theodore  Shultz  caused  the 
transfer  of  Charles  F.  Kluge  from  the  principalship  of  Nazareth 
Hall  to  the  position  of  administrator  at  Salem  and  ex-ofhcio 
member  of  the  Southern  Conference. 

At  length  decisive  steps  were  initiated  to  effect  constitutional 
changes  which  were  imperatively  required.  With  a  dispropor- 
tionately small  representation  in  the  general  synod  American 
affairs  had  received  slight  attention  from  this  body,  and  in  con- 
sequence its  legislation  embodied  many  regulations  which  were 
more  or  less  clearly  inapplicable  to  North  America.  Hence 
the  Conferences  and  members  of  that  Province  did  not  earn- 
estly attempt  to  put  them  into  practice ;  nor  did  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  require  on  their  enforcement.  Official  visits 
had  been  few  of  late ;  hence  the  American  congregations  were 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  they  were  less  cared  for  than  the 
European  congregations,  and  that  it  was  left  to  themselves  in 
most  instances  to  manage  their  own  afTairs,  and  to  adopt  such 
regulations  as  the  circumstances  of  their  country  together  with 
its  prevailing  modes  of  thought  and  action  appeared  to  require. 
The  more  the  circumstances  and  customs  of  the  American 
Province  deviated  from  those  of  the  church  in  Europe,  the  more 
did  the  internal  structure  of  the  congregations  in  America  be- 
come different  from  that  of  the  congregations  in  the  European 
part  of  the  Brethren's  Unity.  Yet  the  existing  lack  of  legal 
autonomy  prevented  the  American  congregations  from  com- 
pletely adapting  themselves  to  the  requirements  of  their  sur- 
roundings and  the  demands  of  the  day  by  a  thorough  change 
of  polity. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


401 


From  May  4  to  20,  1847,  twenty-six  ministers  and  twenty 
lay  delegates  met  at  Bethlehem  for  conference,  preparatory  to 
the  general  synod  appointed  for  the  succeeding  year.  Provi- 
sion was  made,  subject  to  ratification  by  the  general  synod,  for 
the  convocation  of  a  Provincial  synod  at  stated  intervals,  to 
which  the  Provincial  executive,  hereafter  to  be  known  as  the 
Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  should  be  more  largely  respon- 
sible. Two  of  its  three  members  should  be  elected  by  the  Ameri- 
can Provincial  synod.  The  administrator  of  the  Unity's  property 
in  Pennsylvania  should  be  ex-ofUcio  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
board,  but  should  not  be  eligible  to  serve  as  its  president  except 
in  case  of  a  temporary  emergency.  The  inconsistency  which 
was  involved  in  the  retention  of  this  ex-oMcio  member  was  neces- 
sitated by  the  peculiar  financial  methods  of  the  church,  an  in- 
tricate system  which  could  not  be  hastily  abolished. 

These  desires  of  the  Northern  congregations  the  general 
synod  of  1848  granted.  But  before  the  northern  group  of 
churches  met  to  take  advantage  of  the  liberty  allowed.  Bishop 
Benade  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Conference  and  retired 
from  active  service,  Goepp  provisionally  taking  his  place. 

The  synod  of  the  South  was  convened  in  January,  1849.  To 
it  Bishop  William  H.  Van  Vieck  presented  his  resignation. 
The  southern  executive  was  now  constituted  of  Bishop  Her- 
mann, who  resigned  from  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference, 
George  F.  Bahnson  and  Charles  F.  Kluge,  the  administrator. 

Two  important  transactions  now  took  place  at  Bethlehem. 
The  first  was  a  conference  of  the  wardens  of  the  "settlement" 
congregations  with  the  Provincial  authorities  in  order  to  con- 
sider the  status  of  the  yet  remaining  industries  which  were  car- 
ried on  for  the  benefit  of  the  congregations  as  such.  To  these 
deliberations  may  be  traced  the  abrogation  of  this  system  in 
Bethlehem  in  the  year  185 1  and  at  Nazareth  in  1855.  Lititz 
decided  upon  incorporation  as  a  congregation  in  1855.  In 
Salem  the  lease  system  expired  in  1856.  The  other  significant 
movement  was  the  formation  of  a  "Home  Missionary  Society," 
on  March  31,  1849,  chiefly  through  the  exertions  of  Henry  A. 
Shultz,  one  of  the  pastors  since  1847.  It  was  to  systematically 
prosecute  the  work  of  church  extension,  under  the  administra- 
tion of  eleven  directors :  Henry  A.  Shultz,  President ;  Herman 
Tietze,  Vice-President ;  Francis  Wolle,  Recording  Secretary ; 
Charles  F.  Seidel,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  John  F.  Ranch, 
27 


402 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Treasurer;  Jedidiah  Weiss,  John  C.  Weber,  John  M.  Miksch, 
Simon  Rau,  Maurice  Jones  and  Henry  B.  Luckenbach.  Of 
these  only  three  were  ministers. 

The  Northern  synod  was  in  session  from  June  6  to  20,  1849. 
It  was  quick  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  for  self- 
government  and  expansion  now  made  possible.  John  C.  Jacob- 
son  and  Henry  A.  Shultz  were  elected  members  of  the  new 
executive  board,  the  third  member  being  the  administrator, 
Philip  H.  Goepp.  Provision  was  made  for  the  readjustment  of 
the  general  finances.  A  monthly  church  periodical  was  author- 
ized, the  Moravian  Church  Miscellany,  the  first  number  appear- 
ing in  January,  1850,  Henry  A.  Shultz  being  the  editor.  To  the 
directors  of  the  existing  "Home  Missionary  Society"  at  Beth- 
lehem the  sj'nod  committed  the  general  oversight  of  the  work 
of  extension,  under  the  final  supervision  of  the  Provincial  El- 
ders' Conference,  with  the  proviso  that  no  burden  should  be 
added  to  the  "Sustentation  Diacony."  The  formation  of  auxili- 
ary societies  in  the  various  congregations  was  encouraged. 
Several  of  these,  however,  preferred  to  support  distinct  mis- 
sions for  which  they  were  to  be  regarded  as  responsible.  Thus 
the  American  Moravian  Church  stood  definitely  and  hopefully 
committed  to  a  policy  of  aggressive  church  extension;  and  the 
long  pent  up  energies  of  the  people  now  burst  forth  with  re- 
markable force. 

The  pioneer  selected  for  the  work  was  John  Frederick  Fett. 
Born  in  1800  near  Nuremberg  of  Lutheran  parents,  and  having 
studied  first  law  and  then  theology  at  Erlangen,  he  had  been 
active  in  the  Diaspora  circles  of  Switzerland  and  South  Ger- 
many. In  1848  he  had  been  employed  as  a  home  missionary 
amongst  the  Germans  of  Philadelphia.  To  him  a  call  was  now 
given  to  undertake  a  tour  amongst  the  German  immigrants  of 
the  north-western  territories,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  and 
Quincy,  Illinois,  being  the  special  objective  points.  Corre- 
spondence had  already  been  exchanged  with  Andrew  M.  Iver- 
son,  of  Milwaukee,  a  native  of  Norway,  who  had  learnt  to 
know  the  INIoravian  Church  through  the  Diaspora  whilst  a  stu- 
dent in  the  mission  institute  at  Stavanger.  He  was  now  minister- 
ing to  a  small  congregation  of  Scandinavians  in  Milwaukee 
and  with  them  sought  the  fellowship  of  the  Moravian  Church. 
Fett  arrived  at  Milwaukee  in  the  middle  of  October,  1849,  ^^'^ 
found  a  number  of  Germans  formerly  connected  with  the  Mora- 


THE  MOR-WIAX  CHURCH. 


vian  Church  in  Europe.  He  recommended  that  a  home  mis- 
sionary be  stationed  in  this  city,  to  itinerate  and  organize 
preaching  places  amongst  the  surrounding  settlers,  and  he 
cordially  urged  the  ordination  of  Iverson  and  the  reception  of 
his  Scandinavians  into  the  Moravian  Church.  The  ice  prevented 
him  from  reaching  Ouincy  by  boat,  as  had  been  planned. 

Next  May  Iverson  was  ordained  a  deacon  of  the  church  at 
Bethlehem.  His  former  undertaking  became  fully  identified 
with  the  Moravian  Church.  ]\Ieantime  Fett's  place  in  Philadel- 
phia had  been  taken  by  PhiHp  H.  Gapp.  Charles  Pfohl,  who 
had  for  some  time  served  an  extensive  circuit  in  Hendricks 
County,  Indiana,  came  into  connection  with  the  board.  Henry 
Lauenroth  was  sent  to  the  Germans  of  Cleveland.  In  June, 
1850,  Fett  in  company  with  Otto  Tank,  formerly  of  the  Suri- 
nam mission,  and  a  man  of  large  ideas  and  liberal  purposes, 
visited  Greenbay,  a  town  of  about  two  thousand,  with  many 
unchurched  Germans.  A  Moravian  congregation  was  organ- 
ized next  year,  and  in  1852  a  church  built  on  ground  presented 
by  William  B.  Astor,  of  New  York.  Iverson  with  twenty  of  his 
Scandinavians  also  temporarily  moved  thither  in  August,  1850, 
the  former  mission  buildings  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
being  rented  for  their  use  by  Tank.  Before  long  Fett  made 
the  town  his  headquarters,  to  arrange  for  a  Moravian  settle- 
ment on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Fox  River,  where  Tank  had 
purchased  eight  hundred  acres  of  partly  cleared  land.  One 
section  of  this,  on  the  road  from  Fort  Howard  to  Depere,  was 
conveyed  to  the  Norwegians,  but  later  these  first  settlers  re- 
moved to  Fort  Howard  itself. 

In  January,  185 1,  Charles  Barstow,  of  Staten  Island,  was 
given  work  in  Indiana,  itinerated  in  Hendricks,  Putnam  and 
Morgan  Counties,  and  organized  Coatesville  congregation. 
Hauser's  new  settlement  of  West  Salem  in  1848  had  received 
large  additions  through  a  colony  of  Germans  from  the  vicinity 
of  Herrnhut,  and  he  himself  extended  his  activity  to  Olney, 
Mount  Carmel,  Wanboro  and  Albion. 

In  October,  1851,  John  G.  Kaltenbrunn,  formerly  of  the  Sile- 
sian  Diaspora,  was  appointed  home  missionary  in  New  York 
city;  and  next  year,  although  not  under  the  auspices  of  the 
board,  the  commencement  of  Moravian  worship  in  Brooklvn 
was  made  by  David  Bigler,  pastor  in  New  York,  and  John  F. 
Warman,  an  ex-missionary  in  Surinam. 


404 


A  HISTORY  OF 


In  the  early  spring  of  1853  Kaltenbrunn  was  sent  to  Water- 
town,  Wis.,  and  its  vicinity.  A  number  of  his  New  York  mem- 
bers, on  the  receipt  of  his  favorable  report  determined  to  mi- 
grate thither,  being  most  liberally  assisted  by  the  New  York 
auxiliary  society.  Thus  Ebenezer  v,'as  founded,  near  Water- 
town.  Kaltenbrunn's  place  in  New  York  was  taken  by  Ulrich 
Giinther,  formerly  of  Neudietendorf  and  recently  a  colporteur 
of  the  New  York  Tract  Society.  He  soon  secured  an  outpost 
at  Greenville,  in  New  Jersey. 

Early  in  1854,  Hiram  ]\Ieyers  of  Gnadenhiitten  was  appointed 
to  mission  work  in  Iowa,  where  ]\Ioravia  and  Richland  became 
the  centers  of  operation.  Philip  H.  Gapp  received  an  assist- 
ant in  Philadelphia  in  the  person  of  John  Praeger.  They  al- 
ternately visited  Palmyra  and  Camden  and  Centerville,  New 
Jersey.  Reiterated  calls  were  received  from  Germans  in  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  New  Haven  and  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and  even  from  New 
Orleans.  To  Utica,  in  the  summer  of  1854  Valentine  Miiller 
was  sent,  formerly  of  Konigsfeld,  now  of  Rochester,  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Tract  Society,  and  Leonard  Rau  was  appointed  to 
the  New  England  field  in  1857,  after  several  visits  had  been 
made  thither  by  Giinther,  who  had  meantime  taken  charge 
of  a  vacant  German  Presbyterian  church  in  Newark  in  Octo- 
ber, 1854,  with  the  approval  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, Praeger  following  him  in  New  York. 

In  the  home  congregations  affairs  of  importance  were  on 
foot.  In  March,  1851,  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  became 
a  body  corporate.  Henry  A.  Shultz  resigning  from  its  member- 
ship during  this  year,  his  place  was  taken  by  Charles  F.  Seidel. 
Beginning  with  January,  1854,  a  German  monthly  periodical. 
Das  Bn'idcr  Blatt,  was  issued  by  Levin  Theodore  Reichel,  pastor 
of  Lititz. 

In  the  South.  Jacob  F.  Siewers  labored  as  a  missionary  at 
\A'^oodstock  Mills  in  Florida  among  the  negroes,  from  1847  to 
1850,  being  succeeded  by  John  Adam  Friebele,  who  prosecuted 
similar  work  in  the  vicinity  of  Salem,  when  the  former  pro- 
ject was  given  up.  With  the  election  of  Charles  F.  Kluge  as 
a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  Emil  A.  de  Schwei- 
nitz  became  administrator  in  North  Carolina  in  April.  1853. 
Next  year  the  entire  Unity  mourned  a  loss  in  the  South.  In 
spite  of  symptoms  of  the  weakness  incident  to  declining  years 
Bishop  Hermann  had  decided  to  pay  in  person  a  needed  visit  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


405 


inspection  to  the  Clierokee  Mission  in  Indian  Territory,  and 
left  Salem  by  private  conveyance  on  April  30.  The  fatigue  of  the 
wearisome  undertaking  culminated  in  an  attack  of  fever  on  the 
return  journey,  and  he  died  at  McCuUah's  farm  in  Stone  County, 
Missouri,  on  July  20.  Levin  Theodore  Reichel  was  appointed 
his  successor  in  the  Southern  board. 

P>om  i\Iay  2  to  23,  1855,  a  most  important  Provincial  synod 
was  in  session  at  Bethlehem.  Bishop  Jacobson  presided.  A 
special  committee  was  chosen  to  tentatively  recast  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Unity  so  as  to  meet  American  requirements.  It 
consisted  of  David  Bigler,  Samuel  Reinke,  Henry  A.  Shultz, 
Philip  H.  Goepp  and  William  Eberman,  ministers,  and  Jacob 
BHckensderfer,  sr.,  and  Jacob  Blickensderfer,  jr.,  delegates. 
Various  plans,  involving  more  or  less  radical  changes  were  sub- 
mitted to  this  committee.  A  memorial  from  the  New  York  con- 
gregation advocated  the  most  complete  Provincial  independ- 
ence, and  involved  the  adoption  of  diocesan  episcopacy,  with  an 
•upper  and  a  lower  house  of  synod  or  convention  and  a  change  of 
name  to  the  "Moravian  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
North  America."  But  synod  declined  to  proceed  in  this  man- 
ner, and  rested  content  with  a  maintenance  of  former  terms.  It 
however  resolved  that  constitutional  measures  be  taken  for 
Provincial  self-government  and  development,  by  vesting  the 
supreme  authority  in  the  Provincial  synod  constituted  of  min- 
isters and  delegates  and  devolving  executive  administration 
upon  a  collegiate  conference  of  ministers,  to  be  known  as  the 
Provincial  Elders'  Conference.  The  first  incumbents  of  this 
office,  now  conditionally  elected,  were  Bishop  Jacobson,  Presi- 
dent ;  Sylvester  Wolle,  Secretary,  and  PhiHp  H.  Goepp,  Treas- 
urer. The  last  named  continued  to  serve  as  administrator  of  the 
Unity's  property.  It  was  understood  that  the  independent 
powers  of  the  nev/  Conference  would  require  the  sanction  of 
the  general  synod,  and  that  the  approval  of  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference  must  meanwhile  be  secured. 

Furthermore  provision  was  made  for  the  establishment  of  a 
church  publication-house  and  book-store  in  Philadelphia  under 
the  general  superintendence  of  Francis  Jordan,  and  for  the 
founding  of  an  ofticia!  weekly  church  paper.  The  Moravian.  Of 
this  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  pastor  of  the  Philadelphia  church, 
was  elected  editor  with  power  to  secure  associates.  Later 
Lewis  F.  Kampmann  and  Francis  F.  Hagen  consented  to  be- 


406 


A  HISTORY  OF 


come  his  coadjutors,  and  the  first  issue  of  the  new  periodical 
appeared  on  January  i,  1856. 

An  advance  in  the  educational  work  of  the  church  was  pro- 
jected by  the  formation  of  a  collegiate  department  in  connec- 
tion with  the  theological  seminary.  The  death  of  Edward 
Rondthaler,  who  was  at  the  head  of  this  institution,  had  crip- 
pled its  work  since  J^Iarch.  The  collegiate  department  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Edward  T.  Kluge,  with  residence  in  the 
Whitefield  House  at  Nazareth,  whilst  the  members  of  the  theo- 
logical class  temporarily  removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  Ed- 
mund de  Schweinitz,  notwithstanding  his  already  heavy  re- 
sponsibilities commenced  to  deliver  lectures  to  them  in  August, 
being  assisted  in  certain  branches  by  George  W.  Perkin  as 
special  tutor. 

Synod  furthermore  placed  the  administration  of  the  home 
missions  on  a  new  basis.  Withdrawing  the  control  of  the  un- 
dertakings from  the  society  at  Bethlehem,  it  substituted  a 
"Home  Mission  Board"  representing  the  entire  Province,  and 
entrusted  the  management  to  it.  The  new  board  consisted  of 
the  members  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  together 
with  eight  others  elected  by  the  synod,  not  less  than  three  of 
whom  were  required  to  be  residents  of  Bethlehem.  The  choice 
of  the  synod  fell  on  Charles  F.  Seidel,  Henry  A.  Shultz,  David 
Bigler  and  Sylvester  Wolle  of  Bethlehem,  Francis  R.  Holland 
of  Sharon,  Francis  Wolle  of  Bethlehem.  Abraham  Clark  of 
New  York,  and  Frederick  Wilhelm  of  Philadelphia.  The  new 
system  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  activity  of  the  association  at 
Bethlehem.  It  resumed  its  original  form  as  a  local  organiza- 
tion, and  continued  its  labors  with  unabated  zeal,  dividing  the 
field  with  the  general  board.  The  latter  took  charge  of  the 
enterprises  at  Greenbay  and  Watertown,  and  those  in  Iowa, 
Indiana  and  Illinois;  the  former  retained  the  missions  amongst 
the  Norwegians,  and  those  at  Worcester,  Hartford  and  Utica. 
The  general  board,  whose  first  President  was  Henry  A.  Shultz, 
superintended  the  work  of  church  extension  from  the  summer 
of  1855  to  1861,  when  a  further  alteration  in  methods  of  ad- 
ministration was  adopted.  Most  of  the  auxiliary  societies 
meanwhile  gradually  came  to  an  end. 

On  the  receipt  of  the  memorial  of  the  American  Province 
with  respect  to  amendments  to  the  constitution  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  granted  provisional  consent,  and  summoned 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


407 


a  general  synod  to  meet  in  the  spring  of  1857.  Preparatory 
synods  in  the  Sov;th  and  in  the  North  in  1856  practically  re- 
affirmed the  position  of  the  synod  of  1855,  and  further  devel- 
oped the  principles  involved.  In  the  North  an  "Advisory 
Board"  was  appointed  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  Provincial 
Elders'  Conference  in  the  administration  of  financial  affairs, 
Matthew  Krause,  Jacob  Rice  and  Francis  Wolle  of  Bethlehem 
being  elected. 

Now  sixteen  centers  of  home  missionary  activity,  with  a  num- 
ber of  fiHals,  could  be  reported,  having  a  membership  of  about 
850  communicants.  Associated  with  Greenbay,  served  by  Fett, 
were  Bay  Settlement  and  New  Francke.  Kaltenbrunn  minis- 
tered in  Ebenezer,  Watertown  and  Ixonia ;  and  his  success  had 
induced  the  board  to  send  F.  J.  Kilian  in  August,  1855,  to  take 
separate  charge  of  Lake  Mills  and  Germany,  two  of  his  former 
stations.  Iverson's  circuit  included  Ephraim,  Cooperstown, 
Mishicott,  Greenbay,  Sturgeon  Bay  and  Fish  Creek.  The 
fruits  of  Hauser's  perseverance  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
a  home  mission  charge  at  Olney,  to  which  Christian  Bentel  of 
New  York  was  appointed  in  July,  1856.  Meyers  in  IlHnois  had 
two  additional  appointments.  Utica,  in  charge  of  J.  J.  Det- 
terer,  had  attained  a  membership  of  145  communicants.  Val- 
entine Miiller  in  April,  1856,  had  been  transferred  to  Canajo- 
harie,  under  an  arrangement  like  that  of  Giinther  in  Newark, 
and  preached  also  at  Ilion  and  Mohawk.  Leonard  Rau  was 
active  amongst  Germans  of  Worcester,  Webster  and  Boston, 
though  no  congregation  had  been  organized.  From  Philadel- 
phia Gapp  continued  to  statedly  visit  Palmyra  and  Westfield. 
At  a  number  of  these  points  churches  had  been  built  or  pur- 
chased or  were  in  the  course  of  erection.  In  the  Wachovia  dis- 
trict Lewis  Rights  of  Friedberg  was  privileged  to  see  the 
preaching  of  his  predecessor,  Francis  F.  Hagen,  and  of  himself, 
result  in  a  new  congregation  beyond  the  Yadkin,  Macedonia, 
where  a  church  was  consecrated  in  May,  1856. 

A  very  significant  change  also  took  place  during  these  years 
in  the  administration  of  the  general  finances  of  the  church. 
During  the  summer  of  1856  Philip  H.  Goepp  resigned  as  admin- 
istrator. The  time  had  come  to  disentangle  the  complex  sys- 
tem of  church  finance.  Eugene  A.  Frueauff  was  therefore  ap- 
pointed administrator,  and  with  him  was  associated  William  T. 


408 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Roepper  as  "responsible  cashier,"  in  order  to  work  out  the 
problem. 

To  render  Provincial  independence  possible,  and  to  provide 
for  the  outlays  involved  in  the  administration  of  the  joint  affairs 
of  the  congregations,  for  which  help  had  hitherto  been  received 
from  the  funds  of  the  Unity  to  the  amount  of  about  $1,500  a 
year,  the  former  "settlement"  congregations  when  winding  up 
the  affairs  of  their  "diaconies"  had  made  large  contributions 
from  their  local  resources,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  a 
moral  indebtedness  rested  upon  them  in  view  of  the  unearned 
increment  which  had  accrued  to  them  from  lands  purchased  by 
them  from  the  Unity  at  a  fair  valuation  about  eighty  years  be- 
fore. During  the  period  of  the  gradual  dissolution  of  the 
"Diacony  system"  in  the  years  preceding  1855,  the  congrega- 
tion at  Bethlehem  made  over  in  trust  to  the  Provincial  Elders' 
Conference  upwards  of  $116,000,  according  to  an  agreement  in 
virtue  of  which  rather  more  than  $13,000  of  this  sum  was  ap- 
plied to  the  discharge  of  the  general  indebtedness  of  the  Prov- 
ince. The  congregation  at  Nazareth  during  these  and  ensuing 
years  similarly  contributed  upwards  of  $59,000,  and  the  con- 
gregation at  Lititz  relinquished  all  claims  to  the  property  of 
the  church-school  there,  valued  at  $20,000.  In  return  it  was 
recognized  that  these  congregations  were  henceforth  to  be  held 
excused  from  the  stated  annual  collections  in  support  of  the 
joint  needs  of  the  Province  which  had  been  previously  required 
in  conformity  with  written  agreements.  Thus  came  into  exist- 
ence what  might  now  be  appropriately  named  "The  Sustenta- 
tion  Fund,"  since  it  was  now  for  the  first  time  actually  capital- 
ized. Its  income  was  to  be  used  to  make  provision  for  those 
objects  which  had  been  defined  by  the  synod  of  1847  to  be  the 
purpose  of  the  "Sustentation  Diacony,"  including  the  "Diaco- 
nies of  the  Educational  Institutions" — formerly  a  distinct  part 
of  Moravian  economics,  but  recently  merged  into  the  "Susten- 
tation Diacony"  because  property  of  the  Province  as  such. 
These  objects  were  the  following: 

a.  To  pay  the  salaries  of  such  members  of  the  Provincial 
Elders'  Conference  as  hold  no  other  office,  and  to  discharge  the 
unavoidable  expenses  of  the  Conferences. 

b.  To  supply  the  pensions  due  to  superannuated  ministers. 

c.  To  defray  the  expenses  incurred  by  the  publication  of  the 
church  periodicals. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


409 


d.  To  aid  the  more  destitute  congregations  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses incident  to  the  maintenance  of  their  ministers. 

e.  To  aid  such  ministers  as  were  unable  to  obtain  a  compe- 
tent support  from  their  congregations. 

f.  To  furnish  the  necessary  means  for  the  general  education 
of  the  children  of  the  ministers  whose  salaries  Avere  insufficient 
to  enable  them  to  give  their  children  a  respectable  education. 

g.  To  provide  for  the  further  education  of  young  men  en- 
gaged in  a  course  of  theological  study. 

Henceforth  with  the  income  of  the  Sustentation  Fund,  de- 
rived solely  from  the  interest  accruing  from  invested  capital 
and  from  the  earnings  of  the  church  schools,  now  that  contribu- 
tions from  the  congregations  at  large  ceased  to  be  expected 
on  account  of  the  liberality  of  the  three,  the  life  and  develop- 
ment of  the  Province  were  to  be  very  closely  connected. 


410 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  L. 


THE  MISSIONS,  FROM  1836  TO  1857. 

Uneven  pulsations  mark  the  onrush  of  the  incoming  tide. 
Here  it  surges  with  a  swirl  and  a  dash ;  there  lapping  wavelets 
almost  imperceptibly  achieve  and  maintain  their  advance.  Not 
every  wave  carries  its  front  of  foam  as  far  as  the  preceding. 
Momentarily  the  appearance  of  retrogression  may  deceive  a 
casual  onlooker.  Nevertheless  all  the  while  in  the  main  and 
all  along  the  entire  line  of  the  coast  the  tide  is  steadily  adding 
depth  to  depth ;  where  children  were  lately  playing,  the  deep 
laden  barque  may  now  ride  with  even  keel.  Somewhat  similar 
are  the  impressions  received  by  one  who  observes  the  gradual 
advance  of  the  missionary  cause  for  any  considerable  period. 
The  ultimate  gains  become  clear,  even  though  here  and  there 
increase  has  fallen  below  the  general  ratio  or  though  retro- 
gression has  temporarily  characterized  specific  phases  of  opera- 
tion. The  period  now  under  review  illustrates  this  principle. 
On  the  whole  it  was  one  of  marked  advance.  The  forty-four 
stations  of  1836  became  sixty-nine  by  1857,  the  two  hundred 
and  eighteen  missionaries  became  three  hundred.  The  souls 
in  charge  increased  from  51,097  to  71,347.  Yet  in  1840  the  mis- 
sion treasury  was  burdened  with  a  debt  of  $35,000.  Extraor- 
dinary exertions  and  the  liberaHty  of  friends  resulted  in  its  re- 
moval within  ten  years.  A  mission  had  been  attempted  on  a 
new  continent,  Australia,  and  temporarily  abandoned.  Some 
undertakings  appeared  to  remain  at  a  standstill ;  others  had 
gone  forward  with  a  bound. 

In  Greenland  the  hopes  which  led  to  the  founding  of  Fried- 
richsthal,  not  far  from  Cape  Farewell,  had  been  speedily  realized 
through  the  removal  thither  of  heathen  Eskimos  from  the  east 
coast.  By  this  time  comparatively  few  unbaptized  persons 
could  be  found  between  Friedrichsthal  and  New  Herrnhut. 
though  the  roving  life  of  the  Eskimos  in  search  of  a  livelihood 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


411 


decidedly  interfered  with  their  advance  in  culture.  For  this 
reason  since  the  year  1840  special  attention  had  been  directed 
to  the  founding  of  schools  at  the  fishing  villages.  True,  study 
had  to  be  pursued  among  unfavorable  circumstances,  for  the 
young  men  had  to  go  fishing  or  seal  hunting  in  their  kayaks 
during  the  day,  and  could  give  to  the  instruction  only  the  half- 
attention  of  weariness.  Yet  such  as  it  was,  it  was  appreciated, 
now  that  the  New  Testament  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 
By  the  close  of  the  present  period  rudimentary  intsruction  was 
being  imparted  at  twenty  outposts  in  addition  to  the  four 
schools  at  the  stations. 

Ever  and  again  the  fearful  drawbacks  of  life  on  the  ice- 
mantled,  fog-curtained  desolation,  called  Greenland,  inevitably 
reasserted  themselves.  Seasons  of  scarcity  came,  whose  inten- 
sity was  magnified  by  the  inborn  improvidence  which  Christian 
education  could  only  slowly  eradicate.  Such  a  period  of  dis- 
tress was  the  winter  of  1842  to  1843  at  Lichtenau,  where  out  of 
five  hundred  adults  sixty-two  were  carried  ofif  by  an  epidemic 
within  seven  weeks.  The  missionary  in  charge  writes :  "Owing 
to  absolute  want  of  hands  to  dig  new  graves,  many  of  the 
corpses  had  to  be  deposited  in  old  places  of  sepulture — a  prac- 
tice to  which  the  baptized  Greenlanders  were  unwilling  to  have 
recourse." 

Labrador  likewise  had  its  years  of  leanness,  the  winter  of 
1836  to  1837  being  memorable  for  its  misery,  especially  at  Nain, 
Okak  and  Hebron.  A  famine  raged.  Ordinary  food  com- 
pletely failed.  Tent-coverings  of  skin,  skin-canoes,  and  skin- 
boots  were  masticated  and  swallowed  to  satisfy  the  unappeased 
gnawings  within.  Scurvy  broke  out.  The  missionaries  mean- 
while strained  every  nerve  to  render  help,  and  shared  their  sup- 
plies with  their  people.  When  the  famine  was  reHeved,  the 
dearth  of  dogs  rendered  impossible  the  remunerative  pursuit 
of  the  chase  in  the  next  season.  The  condition  of  the  heathen 
in  the  far  north  excelled  in  its  utter  distress.  One  savage  was 
known  to  have  killed  his  wife  and  children,  and  to  have  sup- 
ported his  own  life  by  the  horrible  food  thus  obtained. 

The  new  station  at  Hebron  was  completed  with  the  dedica- 
tion of  its  church  in  October,  1837.  But  much  opposition  had 
to  be  encountered  from  the  heathen,  led  by  an  old  grey  haired 
sorcerer,  Paksaut.  Yet  Mentzel  and  Barsoe  and  Schott  labored 
on  in  hope  against  hope.    What  was  their  surprise,  therefore. 


412 


A  HISTORY  OF 


in  February,  1848,  to  receive  a  visit  from  two  men  as  the  ad- 
vance couriers  of  various  families  who  desired  to  remove  from 
Saeglek,  the  headquarters  of  the  opposition,  and  settle  at  Heb- 
ron. By  summer  eighty-one  of  these  benighted  followers  of 
the  sorcerer  had  become  inhabitants  of  the  place,  and  the  old 
sorcerer  himself  being  drawn  into  the  favorable  environment 
before  long  expressed  his  deep  penitence  for  his  former  satanic 
doings,  and  asked  whether  Jesus  would  hear  him  if  he  prayed. 
In  February,  1850,  the  baptism  of  this  erstwhile  renowned 
"angekok"  and  that  of  his  wife,  after  a  long  and  thorough  pro- 
bation, made  a  deep  impression  as  a  triumph  of  grace. 

In  Labrador  and  the  adjacent  i\rctic  lands  attempts  were 
now  made  at  extensions  of  missionary  activity,  though  no  sta- 
tion was  actually  founded.  In  1847  Captain  Parker,  of  the 
Tnielcz'c,  a  whaler  from  Hull,  visited  Northumberland  Inlet, 
west  of  Cumberland  Island.  The  shores  of  this  bay  and  the 
numerous  islands  which  studded  it  he  found  well  peopled  by 
Eskimos — at  this  time  suflfering  from  famine.  Captain  Parker 
at  their  own  solicitations  took  an  Eskimo  couple  to  England, 
and  there  they  excited  much  interest.  The  owner  and  the  cap- 
tain of  the  Truclovc  urged  on  the  Moravian  Church  the  plant- 
ing of  a  mission  on  Northumberland  Inlet.  The  negotiations 
resulted  in  an  agreement,  that  when  Captain  Parker  returned 
his  Eskimos  to  their  home  together  with  the  suppHes  of  food 
furnished  by  British  beneficence,  he  should  touch  at  Greenland 
on  the  way,  and  take  with  him  Samuel  Kleinschmidt  for  the 
commencing  of  a  mission.  But  the  ice-barrier  at  Upernavik 
and  the  death  of  the  Eskimo  woman  from  consumption  with 
the  unwillingness  of  her  husband  to  proceed  to  their  former 
home  rendered  the  project  a  failure. 

During  the  winter  of  1856  to  1857  Augustus  F.  Eisner  of 
Hopedale  performed  a  very  trying  sleigh  journey  south-west 
to  Eskimo  Bay,  a  settlement  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
near  the  great  inlet  of  Ivuktoke,  to  ascertain  if  some  method 
of  permanently  ministering  to  the  sparse  settlements  could  be 
inaugurated.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  desirous  of 
the  estabHshment  of  a  mission,  and  had  extended  an  invitation. 
The  adventurous  party  was  one  of  five.  A  ten  days'  journey 
by  dog-sled  and  snow-shoe  brought  them  to  Rigolette,  the 
headquarters  of  the  Company.  Their  report  was  unfavorable. 
In  a  district  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length  only 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


twenty-one  fisher  faniiiies  were  to  be  found.  These  with  ten 
famihes  of  Eskimos  constituted  the  entire  population. 

In  June,  1857,  Matthew  Warmow  of  Lichtenfels  accompanied 
Captain  Perry  in  the  Lady  Franklin  to  Cumberland  Inlet,  and 
conversed  with  and  preached  to  the  people  at  various  points, 
whilst  he  spied  out  the  land. 

Special  interest  attaches  to  the  voyage  of  John  Augustus 
Miertsching,  for  many  years  a  missionary  in  Labrador,  who  was 
engaged  as  interpreter  for  the  expedition  fitted  ovit  in  1850  by 
the  British  Government  to  search  for  Sir  John  FrankHn,  one 
of  the  fifteen  expeditions  sent  out  by  Britain  and  America  to 
rescue  the  officers  and  crews  of  the  ill-fated  Erebus  and  Terror. 
On  the  Investigator  Miertsching  sailed  from  England  in  Janu- 
ary, 1850,  and  passed  the  winter  of  1850  to  1851  at  the  Princess 
Royal  Islands,  only  thirty  miles  from  Barrow  Strait.  A  north- 
west passage  was  discovered,  but  could  not  be  reached  owing 
to  a  branch  of  the  paleo-crystic  ice  that  barred  the  way.  As 
soon  as  possible  in  185 1  Captain  McClure  turned  his  ship  south, 
and  rounding  Baring  Island  wintered  next  on  the  northern 
shore  of  Bank's  Land  in  the  "Bay  of  God's  Mercy,"  musk-oxen 
affording  food.  In  April,  1853,  the  time  had  been  appointed 
for  abandoning  the  ship,  so  as  to  reach  the  American  continent 
over  the  ice,  when  three  days  previous  to  the  set  date  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Resolute  and  the  Intrepid  became  known.  On  May 
2  the  weary  company  were  received  on  board  the  rescuing  ves- 
sels. For  two  years  their  daily  allowance  had  been  two-thirds 
of  the  regulation  rations.  Captain  Kellett  of  the  Resolute 
showed  Miertsching  distinguished  kindness.  His  services  as 
interpreter  had  been  invaluable,  and  he  had  contributed  no  little 
part  to  the  efforts  of  the  officers  to  systematically  provide  in- 
struction and  amusement  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  melancholy 
dreariness  of  the  long  Arctic  nights.  As  a  missionary  explora- 
tory tour  the  long  voyage,  ending  in  October,  1854,  was  with- 
out permanent  results. 

In  the  Danish  West  Indies  this  was  a  time  of  transition. 
The  connection  of  the  missions  with  trade  for  the  support  of  the 
work  was  graduall}''  ceasing.  The  Creole  patois  step  by  step 
gave  place  to  the  English.  A  system  of  education  was  being- 
inaugurated  by  government,  with  a  view  to  prepare  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves,  rendered  inevitable  by  Britain's  ex- 
ample.    In  the  year  1839  Governor  General  Van  Scholten,  at 


414 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  instance  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  paid  a  visit  to  Herrnhut, 
and  laying  before  the  authorities  of  the  church  his  plan  for  the 
inception  of  elementary  schools,  proposed  that  a  commence- 
ment be  made  on  the  island  of  St.  Croix,  and  that  the  teachers 
be  supplied  by  the  mission,  whilst  the  government  would  erect 
the  buildings  and  render  financial  aid.  It  seemed  a  providential 
call.  Accordingly  in  1840  Bishop  Breutel  was  dispatched  to 
confer  preHminarily  with  the  missionaries  and  arrange  neces- 
sary details.  Eight  schools  were  soon  built,  each  to  accommo- 
date from  one  hundrd  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  children.  With 
considerable  ceremony  the  first  was  opened  on  May  18,  1841, 
on  Great  Princess  Plantation,  near  the  grave  of  Frederick  Mar- 
tin, the  governor  and  other  civil  authorities  lending  the  encour- 
agement of  their  presence.  Teachers  were  at  first  secured 
from  among  members  of  the  church  trained  in  the  normal 
schools  of  the  Mico  Charity.  In  1847  the  new  school  system 
was  extended  to  St.  Thomas,  having  previously  been  inaugu- 
rated in  the  smaller  island  of  St.  John. 

On  September  18,  1847,  King  Christian  VIII  issued  a  decree 
emancipating  all  who  should  be  henceforth  born  of  slave  par- 
entage in  his  West  Indian  colonies,  and  providing  for  the  ces- 
sation of  all  slavery  at  the  end  of  twelve  years.  Instead  of 
calming  discontent,  this  proclamation  rendered  the  negro  popu- 
lation only  the  more  eager  to  anticipate  the  joys  of  freedom,  and 
in  a  quiet  but  determined  and  very  thorough  manner  a  slave 
insurrection  was  planned.  Alarming  reports  became  current 
on  July  2,  1848,  and  after  dark  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
blowing  of  conch  shells  throughout  the  island  of  St.  Croix  made 
the  white  population  aware  that  something  unusual  was  immi- 
nent. Early  the  next  morning  the  plundering  and  rioting  com- 
menced. That  same  day  the  Governor  General  issued  a  procla- 
mation of  emancipation.  This  did  not  at  once  pacify  the  riot- 
ers— especially  at  the  east  end  of  the  island,  where  a  clash 
of  arms  occurred  and  bloodshed  preceded  the  restoration,  of 
order.  After  the  insurrection  had  been  quelled,  the  Governor 
General  was  tried  on  the  charge  of  dereliction  in  duty  and 
condemned;  but  on  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Den- 
mark an  honorable  acquittal  followed.  Buddhoe,  or  "Gen- 
eral Bourdeaux,"  the  leader  of  the  insurgents,  was  captured 
and  exiled  to  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad,  with  the  understanding 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


that  his  life  should  be  forfeited  if  he  returned  to  the  Danish 
islands. 

Whilst  the  skies  were  reddened  by  the  flames  of  burning 
plantations  the  missionaries  did  their  utmost  to  restrain  the 
rioters  from  violence.  For  weeks  the  attitude  of  the  negroes 
remained  threatening,  and  grave  trouble  was  anticipated  on 
October  i,  the  day  set  for  adjusting  wages.  Then  in  particular 
the  good  offices  of  the  Brethren  proved  of  pecuHar  service.  As 
the  years  passed  the  fruit  of  their  efforts  appeared  in  growing 
congregations  requiring  new  and  larger  churches  at  each  of  the 
three  stations  prior  to  1854. 

In  St.  Thomas,  Eugene  Hartvig  removed  from  Nisky  to  the 
town  in  1843,  to  promote  educational  work  and  care  for  the 
members  residing  there.  Thus  a  congregation  was  gradu- 
ally formed,  which  increased  in  importance  as  the  character  of 
the  island  began  to  change  after  emancipation.  Plantations 
were  abandoned,  but  the  town  of  St.  Thomas  gained  from  the 
splendid  facilities  offered  by  its  magnificent  harbor. 

In  the  British  islands  the  work  of  grace  coincident  with  eman- 
cipation continued.  Energetic  efforts  were  put  forth  to  cope 
with  the  problem  of  education.  In  1837  Charles  James  La 
Trobe  was  sent  out  to  inspect  the  schools  at  the  instance  of 
the  British  government,  and  as  a  result  funds  for  the  erection 
of  the  needed  buildings  and  for  the  maintenance  of  teachers 
began  to  be  gathered  in  England,  and  parliamentary  grants  sup- 
plemented private  beneficence.  In  1837  Jacob  Zorn,  the  able 
superintendent  of  the  mission,  founded  a  normal  school  at  Fair- 
field, and  ten  years  later  a  similar  institution  was  begun  at 
Cedar  Hall  in  Antigua  for  the  eastern  islands,  in  charge  of 
Alan  Hamilton.  In  1854  a  training  institution  for  female  teach- 
ers was  likewise  established  at  St.  John's  in  Antigua,  for  female 
teachers,  its  founder  being  George  Wall  Westerby. 

Jamaica  presented  a  spectacle  of  rapid  advance.  The  con- 
secration of  churches  at  new  stations  became  the  order  of  the 
day,  Bethany  (begun  in  1835)  being  followed  by  Beaufort, 
Nazareth  and  New-Hope  (now  Salem)  in  1838,  Lititz  in  1839, 
and  Bethabara  in  1840.  It  was  in  fact  impossible  to  make  use 
of  all  the  opportunities  for  new  work.  Yet  trials  were  not  ab- 
sent ;  the  more  intense  the  Hght,  the  deeper  the  shadows.  In 
1842  a  perplexing  phenomenon  appeared  in  several  parishes  of 
the  island,  an  outburst  of  one  of  these  periodic  stirrings  of  the 


4i6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


deeply  emotional  nature  of  the  negro  peoples,  that  are  to  be 
observed  from  time  to  time.  This  was  the  organization  of  a 
counter-infatuation,  Myalism,  over  against  the  ancient  Obeah- 
ism,  that  dark  heritage  received  from  their  African  fathers.  It 
proclaimed  its  purpose  to  be  the  cleansing  of  the  world  from 
wickedness  through  the  possession  of  pov/er  to  discriminate 
between  good  and  evil  men,  and  it  sought  the  overthrow  of  the 
Obeah.  The  leaders  of  this  satanic  craze  seemed  to  be  veri- 
tably possessed ;  and  for  a  time  there  appeared  to  be  a  danger 
of  wholesale  lapses  into  heathenism.  John  Henry  Buchner 
writes:  "The  mark  and  sign  of  these  people,  who  are  called 
Myal-men,  is  a  handkerchief  tied  quite  fast  around  the  waist, 
and  another  tied  in  a  fantastical  manner  around  the  head.  I 
have  seen  and  spoken  to  several  of  them  whom  I  have  known 
before ;  but  I  should  hardly  have  recognized  them,  their  features 
being  distorted,  their  eyes  wild ;  in  fact  they  had  the  appear- 
ance of  people  who  are  quite  frantic.  They  are  bold  and  dar- 
ing, and  there  is  no  reasoning  with  them.  This  madness  com- 
menced on  an  estate  where  several  of  the  late  Guinea  negroes 
were  located,  and  now  has  spread  over  the  whole  parish  where 
hundreds  are  now  practicing  this  Myalism.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances many  breaches  of  the  peace  have  been  committed: 
more  than  one  hundred  cases  have  been  tried,  and  the  jail  is 
filled  with  these  people.  Though  they  have  threatened  us,  they 
have  not  yet  come  to  disturb  the  services  in  our  chapel ;  but 
they  have  molested  other  places  of  worship,  and  we  are  in  con- 
stant dread  of  their  approach.  Every  night  the  howling  and 
singing  of  the  votaries  of  Myalism  reach  my  ear  Supersti- 
tion is  deeply,  very  deeply,  rooted  in  a  negro's  mind ;  and  it  was 
distressing  to  see  that  so  many  believed  in  their  doings  as  if 
they  were  from  God,  and  that  it  was  so  difficult  to  persuade 
them  that  it  was  Satan's  work  One  old  communicant  sis- 
ter, of  Williamsfield,  now  feeble  in  body  and  mind,  was  per- 
suaded by  the  Mj^ai  people  that  the  shadow  (soul)  of  her  de- 
parted daughter  had  no  rest,  but  was  upon  a  cotton  tree  in  the 
pasture.  They  directed  her  to  procure  a  little  coffin,  covered 
with  black  merino,  when  upon  a  Saturday  night  they  all,  about 
twenty,  went  out  with  her  to  this  cotton  tree.  A  firefly  upon 
the  tree  was  to  be  the  'shadow.'  After  singing  and  dancing 
for  some  hours  around  the  tree,  they  pretended  to  have  caught 
the  shadow,  whereupon  they  closed  the  coffin  and  buried  it. 


WILLIAM  MALLALIEU. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


On  a  former  occasion  a  white  fowl  had  been  sacrificed  to  the 
'shadow'  under  the  cotton  tree,  the  tree  and  coffin  sprinkled 
with  its  blood;  and  the  same  was  that  night  repeated."  Piti- 
fully ludicrous  though  these  proceedings  may  appear,  this  gro- 
tesque superstition  worked  much  trouble,  till  from  the  very 
excess  of  its  own  intensity  a  revulsion  of  feeling  set  in,  and  by 
the  close  of  1844  the  manifestations  became  infrequent.  But 
belief  in  witchcraft  and  in  the  Obeah  by  no  means  died  out. 

The  mission  was  greatly  hampered  about  this  time  by  the 
severe  sickness  of  a  number  of  useful  workers,  and  death 
thinned  the  ranks.  Seven  fell  from  fevers  or  similar  causes 
within  a  couple  of  years.  A  special  loss  was  sustained  when 
Jacob  Zorn,  the  energetic  superintendent,  died  in  1843.  Born 
of  missionary  parents,  and  enthused  with  the  true  missionary 
spirit,  wholly  consecrated  to  his  work,  "a  man  of  abundant 
grace  and  excellent  gifts,  humble,  affectionate  and  discreet,  yet 
talented,  laborious  and  energetic,"  he  seemed  to  have  been 
stopped  in  mid-course,  being  not  quite  forty  years  of  age.  But 
to  him  was  given  the  joy  of  seeing  his  labors  crowned,  and  of 
perceiving  the  mission  emerge  out  of  many  embarrassments 
into  strength  and  vigor. 

The  official  visit  of  Bishop  Hermann  and  William  Mallalieu 
in  1847  to  a  reconstruction  of  the  arrangements  for  the 
supervision  of  the  work  on  the  island.  Conferential  govern- 
ment was  now  introduced,  Rudolph  Wullschlaegel  as  superin- 
tendent having  associated  with  him  Pfeiffer,  Spence,  Renke- 
witz  and  Buchner.  But  two  years  later  Wullschlaegel  was 
transferred  to  Surinam,  and  Buchner  took  his  place.  In  1852 
the  sudden  death  of  James  Spence,  a  loss  reminding  of  that  of 
Zorn,  caused  the  transfer  of  Jacob  Seller  from  Antigua. 

In  1850  a  time  of  severest  test  had  to  be  endured.  The 
cholera  swept  through  the  island,  and  death  cut  a  broad  swatfi. 
Twenty  thousand  persons  are  thought  to  have  perished.  New 
Fulneck  and  Irwin  Hill  suffered  most,  the  latter  losing  one- 
fifth  of  its  members.  Here  Abraham  Lichtenthaler  was  the 
indefatigable  missionary.  Moreover,  in  consequence  of  the 
failure  of  the  coffee  and  sugar  crops  ruin  spread  through  the 
land.  Many  estates  were  abandoned.  The  laboring  classes 
had  to  shift  for  themselves.  Poverty  crippled  and  idleness  in- 
terfered with  the  growth  of  honorable  qualities,  the  while 
various  vices  were  engendered.  Yet  with  it  all  the  work  of  the 
28 


4i8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


mission  was  steadil}'  prosecuted.  When  the  centenary  was 
celebrated  in  1854  the  total  membership  was  12.794,  as  com- 
pared with  8,591  in  1836. 

In  Antigua  also  stations  multiplied  after  emancipation ;  Leba- 
non (1837),  Gracefield  (1840),  Five  Islands  (1838)  and  Gracebay 
(1848)  each  serving  to  relieve  the  overgrown  congregation  at 
St.  John's,  which  at  one  time  had  a  membership  of  upwards  of 
seven  thousand. 

In  the  early  months  of  1843  repeated  shocks  of  earthquake 
wrought  havoc  at  various  posts,  the  very  heaviest  being  on  Feb- 
ruary 8,  when  churches,  schools,  mills,  sugar-works  and  all 
kinds  of  stone  buildings  were  thrown  down  or  wrecked.  It  was 
the  most  severe  calamity  that  had  transpired  on  these  islands 
within  the  memory  of  man.  In  some  villages  scarcely  a  house 
was  left  standing.  The  south  gable  of  Lebanon  church  was 
thrown  down.  Here  and  there  the  earth  was  full  of  great 
cracks,  from  which  oozed  a  thick  and  sHmy  water,  smelling 
strongly  of  sulphur.  For  weeks  the  services  had  to  be  held  in 
the  open  air.  On  the  morning  of  Good  Friday  repeated  shocks 
drove  the  missionary  and  his  people  out  of  the  church  at  Beth- 
esda,  St.  Kitts,  the  building  rocking  like  a  ship.  Again  in 
August,  1848,  a  terrific  hurricane  raged  on  the  islands  of  St. 
Kitts,  St.  Croix  and  Tobago,  as  well  as  on  Antigua.  St.  John's, 
Lebanon,  Gracehill  and  Cedar  Hall  were  the  chief  sufferers. 
At  Gracehill  the  loss  was  estimated  at  $6,500,  at  Cedar  Hall 
from  $3,500  to  $4,000.  The  training  school  was  completely  de- 
molished. The  mission  dwelling  nearby  resembled  a  dis- 
mantled hulk.  Beams  and  furniture,  clothing  and  books  were 
strewn  around  the  fields  like  stubble  for  a  distance  of  400  to  500 
yards.  During  the  night,  whilst  the  lightning  blazed  and  the 
thunder  boomed  and  crashed,  the  howling  wind  had  made  sport 
with  lumber  and  roofing,  chicken-coops,  grind-stones,  drip- 
stones and  the  like ;  and  the  fearful  artillery  of  the  elements 
had  driven  the  mission  family  with  the  scholars  to  the  cellar  as 
a  last  place  of  refuge.  All  out-buildings  and  fences  had  been 
swept  away,  and  the  gardens  were  ruined. 

Throughout  the  greater  part  of  these  years  (his  term  of  office 
commencing  in  1844  was  destined  to  continue  till  1872)  the 
superintendent  in  Antigua  was  the  energetic  and  far-seeing 
George  Wall  Westerby,  who  was  consecrated  a  bishop  whilst 
on  a  visit  to  England  by  Bishops  SeifYerth  and  Rogers  at  Ock- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


419 


brook  on  July  5,  1853.  On  January  3,  1856,  the  ordination  of 
John  Buckley  as  a  deacon  at  St.  John's  by  Bishop  Westerby 
marked  an  important  step  in  the  direction  of  West  Indian 
development,  for  with  him  began  the  line  of  Moravian  ministers 
of  African  blood. 

St.  Kitts  in  1845  rejoiced  in  the  founding  of  a  fourth  station, 
Estridge,  the  Brethren  Ricksecker  and  Klose  being  specially 
active  in  this  undertaking. 

In  Barbados,  though  Clifton  Hill  was  begun  in  1839,  the  num- 
bers remained  apparently  stationary.  Then  in  1854  the  cholera 
carried  away  one-seventh  of  the  population.  More  than  twelve 
thousand  persons  met  with  sudden  death  in  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks,  Sharon  and  Bridgetown  suffering  most  among  the  mis- 
sion stations.  In  Bridgetown  for  a  time  the  burials  averaged 
three  hundred  a  day.  Drought  accompanying  the  pest,  pro- 
visions were  dear,  and  the  misery,  especially  of  the  orphaned, 
was  pitiful  in  the  extreme,  making  incalculable  demands  on  the 
good  offices  of  the  missionaries.  At  one  time,  too,  riots  added 
to  the  unparalleled  distress. 

At  length  the  day  dawned  for  the  mission  on  the  beautiful 
island  of  Tobago,  though  large  numbers  could  not  be  looked 
for,  the  population  being  comparatively  thin.  And  this  was  in 
spite  of  the  frequent  changes  in  the  missionary  force  demanded 
by  the  treacherous  climate  of  the  beautiful  island.  True,  To- 
bago escaped  trials  as  little  as  other  places.  On  September  11, 
1847,  Montgomery  was  wrecked  by  a  hurricane,  the  lives  of 
Prince  and  his  wife,  the  missionaries,  being  spared  as  by  a 
miracle.  He  pictures  the  scene  of  desolation  thus :  "When 
our  limbs,  stiff  with  the  cold  of  that  dreadful  night,  bore  us 
tremblingly  forth  from  the  ark  of  refuge,  what  a  scene  met  our 
gaze !  The  cocoanut  trees  had  their  graceful  branches  either 
twisted  off  or  dangling  down  the  trunks ;  those  trees  which  are 
of  a  tougher  texture  showed  the  stumps  of  the  branches  dis- 
playing white  clusters  of  splinters,  the  more  brittle  of  them 
snapped  short  off.  Spouts,  rails,  beams  and  shingles  were 
heaped  in  confusion.  The  negro  houses  were  a  heap  of  ruins ; 
the  school,  fiat  on  the  ground,  and  sHding  far  down  the  gully ; 
the  church,  with  the  north  side  stove  in,  the  roof  down,  and  an 
avalanche  of  benches,  beams,  rafters,  etc.,  protruding  to  a  con- 
siderable distance  through  the  rent  on  the  north  side.  Our 
dwelHng  rooms  were  deluged — beds,  books,  clothes  and  papers 


420 


A  HISTORY  OF 


were  wetted  and  blown  together  in  inextricable  confusion  

The  crops  of  cane  and  provisions,  so  smiling  the  day  before, 
were  all  destroyed."'  Moriah  on  the  other  hand  had  been  but 
little  injured. 

In  Surinam  two  obstacles  had  still  to  be  encountered,  the 
first  inevitable — the  fever-breeding  cHmate  entaihng  terrible 
mortality — the  second  about  to  be  removed — slavery  and  its 
attendant  evils.  In  Paramaribo  and  on  the  plantations  aHke, 
the  sacredness  of  marriage  among  the  slaves  was  not  regarded 
by  their  owners.  Any  negro  husband  might  be  sold  away  from 
his  wife  and  family.  Again  the  education  of  the  slaves  was 
rather  dreaded  than  encouraged,  even  such  rudimentary 
knowledge  as  would  serve  for  spelling  the  way  through  the 
Bible.  The  number  of  plantations  to  be  visited,  so  long  as  the 
slaves  were  tied  to  the  soil,  involved  most  exhausting  voyages 
in  the  narrow  dug-out  canoes,  and  at  best  the  instruction  could 
be  imparted  only  at  intervals.  No  wonder  that  a  people  barely 
above  the  fetishism  of  Africa  made  very  slow  advances  in  Chris- 
tian culture  and  higher  life.  Sometimes  the  secret  hostility  of 
overseers  found  pretexts  for  hindering  the  visit  to  his  planta- 
tion ;  it  was  the  season  of  full  creeks,  perhaps — then  the  blacks 
could  be  given  no  leisure,  being  all  needed  to  float  timber  to 
market,  or  to  work  the  mills  that  crushed  the  canes. 

Nevertheless  the  mission  made  marvellously  rapid  strides. 
Station  was  added  to  station — Worsteling  Jacobs  in  1838,  but 
again  abandoned  in  1843  owing  to  its  unsuitable  situation ; 
Salem  in  the  Coronie  district,  in  1840;  Beekhuizen,  near  Para- 
maribo, in  1843 '  Riist-en-Werk,  on  the  lower  Comewyne,  in 
1844;  Liliendal,  on  the  same  river,  becoming  an  independent 
station  with  the  consecration  of  its  church  in  1848;  Annaszorg, 
an  abandoned  plantation  purchased  for  the  church  as  a  center 
of  operations  among  the  plantations  on  the  Warappa  and  Mat- 
appica  creeks,  in  1853;  Catharina  Sophia,  on  the  Saramacca,  in 
1855 ;  Heerendyk,  the  abandoned  plantation  Nut-en-Schadelyk, 
in  1856,  a  relief  to  Charlottenburg.  The  congregation  in  Para- 
maribo grew  remarkably — 5.502  by  the  middle  of  1856.  The 
total  membership  increased  from  3,795  in  1836  to  23,316  in  1857. 
All  honor  to  the  faithful  workers,  and  to  the  able  men  in  suc- 
cession charged  with  the  administration  of  affairs — Rudolph 
Fassavant,  Otto  Tank,  Henry  Rudolph  Wullschlaegel  and 
Theopilus  van  Calker. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


421 


In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  slave  owners  to  the  education 
of  the  blacks,  schools  were  not  only  commenced  on  a  number 
of  stations,  but  in  1844  Gottlieb  Wiinsche  of  Rust-en-Werk 
made  a  first  attempt  to  train  negro  lads  with  a  view  to  their 
becoming  teachers  of  their  own  people;  and  in  185 1  a  normal 
school  was  successfully  founded  at  Beekhuizen,  in  charge  of 
Herman  Voss,  and  after  his  early  death,  under  Gustavus  Ber- 
thold.  The  students  were  young  slaves  sent  by  planters  who 
w-ere  favorably  disposed.  Beginning  with  the  year  1856  a  new 
sphere  of  usefulness  was  also  entered  upon.  Government  then 
assigned  to  the  Moravian  Church  the  spiritual  care  of  the  non- 
Catholic  inmates  of  the  hospital  for  lepers  at  Batavia  on  the 
Copename,  and  Theodore  Dobler  was  assigned  the  duties  of 
chaplain,  with  a  faithful  native  "helper"  Jacques  as  his  assistant. 

Although  it  had  been  impossible  for  several  decades  to  supply 
the  little  congregation  at  New  Bambey  in  the  Bush  country 
with  a  missionary,  intercourse  with  Paramaribo  had  been  main- 
tained by  the  few  surviving  converts.  Between  1830  and  1840 
repeated  visits  were  also  made  to  them  by  John  Henry  Voigt, 
who  found  the  sons  of  chief  Arabi  anxious  for  a  renewal  of  fixed 
operations  among  their  people.  Jacobs  and  Rasmus  Schmidt 
followed  his  example  in  1838  and  1840.  Thus  encouraged,  the 
remnant  of  the  Bush  negro  congregation  built  a  church  and 
mission  house — Hght  structures  with  wattled  walls  and  roofs 
of  palm  thatch.  Hither  Schmidt  and  his  wife  came  just  before 
the  Christmas  festival  of  1840.  The  sons  of  Arabi,  Job  and 
John,  stood  by  them  loyally,  but  the  determined  attitude  of  the 
heathen  element  manifested  fixed  hostihty.  Once  a  heathen 
woman  rushed  on  Schmidt  with  a  drawn  knife,  but  was  fortu- 
nately disarmed  in  time.  Fever  before  long  did  what  threats 
and  dangers  could  not  accomplish.  Schmidt  died  on  April  12, 
1845.  His  wife  for  a  time  maintained  the  post  alone.  Next 
year  John  Godfrey  Meissner,  coming  out  from  Europe,  married 
her,  but  the  fatal  climate  claimed  him  as  a  victim  in  three  years. 
Then  Mads  Barsoe  and  his  wife  came  to  the  relief  of  the  heroic 
woman  twice  a  widow.  But  he  also  speedily  succumbed.  In 
the  emergency  another  noble  woman  caught  up  the  falling 
standard,  and  planted  it  firmly,  the  widow  INIary  Hartmann. 
She  had  come  to  Surinam  in  1826,  about  twenty-nine  years  of 
age,  with  her  husband,  John  Gottlieb,  and  with  him  had  served 
in  Param.aribo  and  at  Charlottenburg  till  he  was  called  to  his 


422 


A  HISTORY  OF 


eternal  rest  in  1844.  In  1S48  she  volunteered  to  go  alone  to 
Berg-en-dal,  on  the  Upper  Surinam,  where  a  small  congrega- 
tion had  formerly  been  gathered,  but  which  had  diminished 
owing  to  the  unavoidable  removal  of  the  missionaries.  Here 
she  had  ministered,  teaching  the  children  and  doing  the  work 
of  a  prophetess  amongst  the  adults.  Occasionally  she  had 
ventured  on  journeys  to  the  Bush  country,  though  no  more  proof 
against  fevers  than  any  other  European,  bodily  infirmity  at 
length  becoming  her  cross.  Nevertheless  after  the  repeated 
deaths  at  Bambey  the  desolate  condition  of  the  few  Christians 
there  appealed  to  her,  and  she  removed  thither  alone,  thus  cut- 
ting herself  off  from  intercourse  with  her  fellow  countrymen. 
Year  after  year  this  solitary  white  woman  lived  on  in  the  land 
of  savage  blacks,  and  alligators  and  snakes  and  venomous 
spiders  and  noxious  vermin,  breathing  the  heavy  steaming  air 
of  the  swamps.  Only  once  and  for  one  single  day  during  the 
ensuing  four  years  did  she  visit  her  brethren  and  sisters  at  Para- 
maribo, restricting  her  visit  in  this  manner  from  the  fear  lest  by 
reason  of  attachment  to  her  fellow  workers  she  might  be  made 
less  willing  to  go  back  to  the  poor  negroes  of  the  wilderness. 
Testimony  to  the  success  which  crowned  her  self-immolation  is 
thus  borne  by  a  German  commissioner  sent  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  Surinam  at  this  period:  "Our  worthy  hostess  was 
one  of  the  rare  characters  of  the  present  age.  With  the 
patience  of  a  saint  she  labored  in  the  midst  of  these  people, 
imparting  religious  instruction,  and  keeping  alive  the  spark  of 
religious  life,  which  so  easily  becomes  extinct  The  con- 
gregation she  instructed  in  the  church,  the  children  she  taught 

in  her  own  dwelling  to  read  and  write  Bambey  may  well 

be  called  a  Christian  village  in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness  of 
heathenism.  The  peace  and  quiet,  which  was  not  interrupted 
by  any  dancing  and  its  attendant  horrible  yelling,  together  with 
the  neat  and  cleanly  appearance  of  the  settlement,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  which  about  one  hundred  in  number  were  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  earthenware  goods,  cotton-weaving,  and  the 
shaping  of  coryars,  made  a  pleasing  impression  upon  us." 

But  on  December  30,  1853,  this  heroine  was  overcome  by  the 
hardships  of  her  situation,  having  been  brought  to  Paramaribo 
just  in  time  to  bid  her  fellow  missionaries  farewell.  Previous 
10  this  her  little  congregation  removed  from  Bambey  to  Coffy- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


camp,  near  where  the  Sara  creek  empties  into  the  Surinam, 
on  account  of  the  more  healthy  site. 

In  South  Africa  Genadendal  was  prospering.  Its  business 
enterprises  flourished.  The  cutlerj^  had  to  be  enlarged  to  meet 
the  growing  demand  for  its  products.  Smiths,  carpenters, 
masons,  wagon-makers  and  tanners  drove  a  brisk  trade.  Dis- 
tant Shiloh  also  advanced  in  externals.  Fritsch  and  Bonatz 
undertook  the  erection  of  a  grist-mill,  the  latter  shaping  the 
mill-stones  with  the  labor  of  his  own  hands  out  of  materials 
furnished  by  the  hard  sand-stone  of  the  Klipplaat.  The  aston- 
ishment of  the  Kaffirs  was  boundless,  when  it  was  set  in  mo- 
tion in  1838,  the  first  mill  in  the  entire  region.  Here  a  smithy 
was  also  established.  Only  Enon  suffered  a  retrogression. 
Owing  to  repeated  seasons  of  drought  the  Zondag  ceased  to 
flow.  Irrigation  became  impossible.  Gardens  and  fields  ceased 
to  be  productive.  The  very  trees,  the  distinguishing  ornament 
of  the  place,  began  to  perish.  The  necessaries  of  life  became 
scanty.  Water  at  last  could  be  procured  only  by  digging  in  the 
"Zeekoegats,"  the  low  pools  in  the  bed  of  the  river — "pools  of 
the  hippopotamus"  as  the  natives  called  them.  Remunerative 
labor  could  not  be  procured  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  mi- 
gration to  more  favored  spots  set  in.  Providentially  rains  were 
sent  before  the  station  had  to  be  abandoned;  but  for  many 
years  the  el¥ects  of  this  drought  continued  to  be  felt. 

Emancipation  went  into  effect  throughout  this  colony  on  De- 
cember I,  1838.  It  affected  about  35,000  souls.  Partly  in  an- 
ticipation of  this  measure,  on  November  i,  1838,  the  corner- 
stone of  a  normal  school  for  Hottentots,  a  building  seventy- 
four  by  twenty-three  feet  and  two  stories  in  height,  had  been 
laid.  Next  year  it  was  opened  with  nine  pupils,  Theodore  Kiis- 
ter  having  immediate  charge.  Before  long  candidates  for 
teacherships  and  for  the  ministry  were  entrusted  by  other  mis- 
sionary bodies  also  to  the  care  of  this  seminary.  As  in  the 
West  Indies,  the  church  gained  large  accessions  after  emanci- 
pation. At  Genadendal  alone  four  hundred  and  fifty  were  re- 
received  within  one  year,  after  each  case  had  been  carefully  de- 
cided on  its  own  merits. 

During  the  season  preceding  emancipation  government  had 
urged  the  estabHshment  of  a  new  station.  About  sixty  miles 
west  by  south  of  Enon  and  north  of  Cape  St.  Franciscus  a  tribe 
of  fugitive  Kaffirs  had  taken  refuge  along  the  Zitzikamma, 


424 


A  HISTORY  OF 


under  the  protection  of  the  colonial  government.  Originally 
occupying  land  northeast  of  the  country  of  the  Tambookies, 
they  had  been  expelled  by  the  more  warlike  Fetkannas,  when 
these  in  their  turn  had  fled  before  the  renowned  Zulu  chief, 
Chaka — hence  the  name  Fingoos,  "vagrants,"  given  them  by 
fellow  Africans.  Agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  civil  authori- 
ties. Halter  and  Kiister  and  Neuhaus  in  1839  made  their  way 
to  the  Zitzikamma.  Speedy  returns  justified  the  project. 
Within  half  a  year  a  Uttle  village  clustered  around  the  mission, 
and  young  and  old  swarmed  to  the  services  from  the  neighbor- 
ing kraals.  A  great  awakening  marked  the  spring  of  1840. 
Governor  Napier,  who  was  deeply  interested  in  the  new  station, 
selected  for  it  the  name  of  Clarkson,  in  honor  of  the  distin- 
guished advocate  of  freedom. 

But  now  like  a  bolt  from  a  clear  sky,  the  sudden  death  of 
Bishop  Hallbeck  shocked  the  mission  and  its  friends.  He  died 
on  November  25,  1840,  fifty-seven  years  of  age.  When  he 
came  to  the  Cape,  in  1817,  the  mission  embraced  only  two  sta- 
tions with  about  1,600  souls;  now  seven  with  a  native  member- 
ship of  nearly  4,500.  "In  him  a  powerful  mind  was  united  with 
an  affectionate  spirit ;  a  capacity  for  generalization,  with  a  readi- 
ness to  enter  into  the  smallest  details ;  great  ability  in  direction, 
with  surprising  facility  of  execution ;  originality  of  thought, 
with  sterling  sense  and  a  decided  preference  for  whatever  was 
practical  and  useful.  His  plans  were  ordinarily  marked  by 
sound  judgment,  though  his  temper  was  naturally  arduous  and 
impetuous ;  and  in  the  transaction  of  business  he  exhibited  un- 
common regularity,  energy  and  despatch.  No  Hottentot  or 
enfranchised  slave  found  him  otherwise  than  ready  to  give  him 
counsel  in  temporal,  as  well  as  instruction  in  spiritual  things. 
Though  by  no  means  an  eloquent  preacher,  his  discourses  were 
Scriptural  and  experimental,  delivered  with  great  warmth  of 
heart,  and  accompanied  with  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  power." 

Teutsch  became  superintendent,  and  Rudolph  Kolbing  came 
to  take  charge  of  the  educational  work.  Extension  was  the 
order  of  the  day,  amongst  colonists  and  natives.  Outposts 
were  regularly  maintained — Kopjes  Kasteel.  Bosjesfeld  and 
Twistwyk  being  served  from  Genadendal.  Houtkloof  from  Elim, 
and  Louwskloof,  Goedverwacht  and  Wittezand  from  Mamre. 
Nor  was  the  advance  one  in  numbers  only.    Various  agencies 


THE  MOR.WIAN  CHURCH. 


were  set  at  work  for  the  spiritual  elevation  of  the  people,  for 
example,  the  formation  of  a  missionary  society  at  Genadendal 
in  1845. 

For  some  time  plans  for  a  removal  of  the  hospital  for  lepers 
from  the  mainland  had  been  contemplated  by  government.  At 
length  in  December,  1845,  the  transfer  was  effected  to  Robben 
Island,  a  small  rocky  island  near  the  entrance  of  Table  Bay. 
Joseph  Lehman  and  his  wife  accompanied  the  seventy-two  un- 
fortunates to  the  new  home. 

Since  the  early  thirties  the  movement  of  the  Boers  eastward 
and  northward  had  been  of  significance.  The  exodus  involved 
the  trekkers  in  more  or  less  incessant  strife  with  the  native 
tribes.  This  reacted  upon  the  condition  of  the  entire  eastern 
border.  Kaffir  raids  became  frequent.  Many  cattle  were  lifted. 
The  proportions  of  a  state  of  belligerency  were  almost  reached. 
At  last  war  actually  broke  out — the  War  of  the  Axe,  in  March, 
1846,  so  named  from  the  fact  that  the  immediate  occasion  for 
hostilities  was  the  murder  of  a  Hottentot,  to  whom  a  Kaffir 
thief  had  been  manacled  whilst  being  conveyed  to  Grahams- 
town  for  trial  on  the  charge  of  stealing  an  axe.  The  escort  was 
attacked  en  route,  and  the  Hottentot  slain.  In  this  war  the 
Gaikas  and  Tambookies  played  a  leading  part,  under  the  gen- 
eralship of  Chief  Sandili.  With  the  quelHng  of  the  outbreak  in 
1853  British  Kaffraria  was  created  a  colony.  At  first  Shiloh 
was  the  only  mission  station  in  all  Kaf¥raria  that  escaped  the 
consequences  of  the  strife.  The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  wonder- 
fully stretched  over  it.  Thither  missionaries  of  other  societies 
fled.  When  peace  was  temporarily  restored  in  1848,  the  ad- 
vance of  the  frontier  to  the  river  Kei  brought  it  within  the 
limits  of  colonial  rule.  But  this  proved  no  unmixed  blessing; 
for  on  the  founding  of  Whittlesea  hostile  traders  suggested  to 
government  to  order  the  missionaries  to  push  on  beyond  the 
frontier  and  do  pioneer  work,  that  the  lands  which  they  had 
reclaimed  might  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  settlers.  But  the 
authorities  had  a  more  just  conception  of  missionary  labor. 
Instead  they  encouraged  the  founding  of  Mamre  on  the  Bicha 
in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Peddie ;  but  with  the  renewal  of  hostili- 
ties this  place  had  to  be  abandoned.  So  also  Shechem,  later 
Goshen,  begun  in  1850  on  the  Windvogelberg,  not  far  from 
Shiloh,  was  perforce  for  a  time  deserted.  At  length  Shiloh 
itself  was  exposed  to  Kaffir  incendiarism.     The  missionaries 


426 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  about  seventy  faithful  Fingoos  found  refuge  in  Colesburg, 
on  the  Orange  River.  Savages  applied  the  torch  to  the  evi- 
dences of  industry  and  civilization,  and  after  the  restoration  of 
peace  Shiloh  and  Goshen  had  to  be  completely  rebuilt. 

Meantime  Teutsch  died  at  Genadendal  on  July  i6,  1852. 
Kolbing  now  became  superintendent,  with  Frederick  William 
Kiihn  as  his  assistant.  At  the  synod  of  1857  it  could  be  re- 
ported that  the  African  mission  during  twenty  years  had  in- 
creased from  a  membership  of  3,308  to  one  of  7,037;  and  that 
several  natives,  trained  at  Genadendal,  were  giving  promise  of 
distinguished  usefulness,  notably  John  Nakin,  John  Zwelibanzi, 
Nicholas  Oppelt  and  Ezekiel  Pfeiffer,  the  first  two  Kaffirs,  the 
last  two  Hottentots. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


4-7 


CHAPTER  LI. 


THE  THREE  NEW  MISSION  FIELDS  ENTERED  BETWEEN  THE  YEARS 
1848  AND  1857 — THE  MOSKITO  COAST,  AUSTRALIA 
AND  CENTR.\L  ASIA. 

Along  the  Caribbean  coast  of  Central  America,  from  the 
Wama  or  Sinsin  Creek  to  Rama  River,  and  for  about  forty  miles 
inland,  lies  the  Moskito  Reserve.  From  1655  to  1850  this  ter- 
ritory enjoyed  a  semi-independent  status,  under  the  protection 
of  Great  Britain,  being  ruled  by  a  so-called  Indian  "king."  The 
terms  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  in  1850,  and  of  the  treaty 
of  Managua  in  i860,  transferred  the  protectorate  to  Nicaragua, 
and  in  1895  all  vestiges  of  semi-independence  were  swept  away. 

Special  attention  was  directed  to  this  district  of  Central 
America  about  the  year  1847  by  an  attempt  of  the  Prussian 
government  to  establish  a  colony  there.  Bvit  it  proved  difficult 
to  direct  the  tide  of  emigration  thither  owing  to  the  reputation 
of  the  climate.  At  this  time  Prince  Schonburg-Waldenberg,  a 
hberal  supporter  of  Moravian  Missions,  earnestly  solicited  the 
efforts  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  this 
little  known  land.  In  response  the  Conference  commissioned 
Henry  Pfeiflfer  and  Amadeus  A.  Reinke,  missionaries  in 
Jamaica,  to  undertake  a  tour  of  exploration.  Proceeding  via 
Greytown,  they  reached  Bluefields,  the  capital,  a  village  with 
from  six  to  seven  hundred  inhabitants,  on  May  2,  1847.  The 
place  itself  perpetuated  the  cognomen  of  a  notorious  buccaneer 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  one  Blauveldt,  and  was  found  to  be 
characterized  by  an  absence  of  religious  observances.  For  the 
English  speaking  people  a  catechist  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
an  ex-schoolmaster  from  Jamaica,  read  prayers  and  a  sermon 
on  the  Lord's  Day.  Now  and  then  unauthorized  colored  per- 
sons went  through  a  caricature  of  infant  baptism  and  collected 
fees  from  the  negroes  whose  innate  religiousness  they  imposed 
upon. 


428 


A  HISTORY  OF 


For  the  Indians — Moscos,  or  Moskitos,  Woolwas,  Ramas, 
Sumoos  and  Caribs — who  periodically  visited  Bluefields  to  trade 
in  tortoise-shells  and  deer-skins,  and  pay  tribute  to  their  "king," 
no  ray  of  light  pierced  the  fog  of  superstition  through  which 
they  groped.  They  were  the  unquestioning  slaves  of  their 
"sukias"  or  medicine-men.  Their  religious  conceptions  were  ex- 
tremely scanty.  They  had  a  dim  idea  of  a  mighty,  good  and 
benevolent  being,  named  "Won  Aisa' — Our  Father.  But  no 
personal  relationship  subsisted  between  him  and  man.  It  did 
not  enter  into  their  thoughts  to  honor  him  \vith  any  form  of  wor- 
ship. On  the  other  hand  a  great  crowd  of  evil  spirits,  the 
"Ulassa,"  played  a  prominent  role  in  their  life.  These  spirits 
incessantly  threaten  man  and  bring  upon  him  all  the  forms  of 
e\-il  and  misfortune  to  which  he  is  exposed.  They  scare  ofT 
the  fish  which  he  in  vain  tries  to  catch.  They  cause  the  tree, 
as  it  is  being  felled,  to  fall  so  as  to  inflict  injury.  They  are  at 
fault,  when  the  arrow  or  the  ball  happens  to  miss  the  deer 
caught  trespassing  in  the  corn  field.  They  occasion  sickness 
and  death — often  in  league  with  a  personal  foe.  Yet  they  were 
not  regarded  as  the  cause  of  sin.  for  the  Indians  themselves 
were  almost  unmoral,  devoid  of  ethical  judgment.  But  they 
lived  in  constant  dread  of  the  bad  spirits,  and  life  for  them  con- 
sisted largely  in  efiforts  to  ward  ofT  their  malevolent  influence. 
The  average  man  was,  however,  too  weak  for  this.  He  required 
special  assistance,  such  as  could  be  alone  rendered  by  the 
"sukia"  or  medicine  man.  The  latter  believed  himself  enpow- 
ered  to  cast  out  Beelzebub  with  the  aid  of  Beelzebub.  His 
secret  formulas  and  preposterous  mummeries,  of  which  his  sim- 
ple-minded fellow-countrymen  stood  in  awe  procured  him  the 
substantial  rewards  of  the  successful  imposter.  Polygamy  was 
common,  the  number  of  a  man's  wives  being  limited  only  by  his 
ability  to  purchase  and  maintain  them.  The  great  vice  of  the 
people  was  drunkenness,  the  national  drink  being  "macJila,"  an 
intoxicant  decocted  from  corn.  For  the  rest,  the  tropical  cli- 
mate induced  indolence.  The  rudest  sort  of  shelter  beneath  the 
magnificent  shade  of  the  forests,  a  bow  and  arrows,  a  dug-out 
canoe,  an  iron  pot  for  cooking  and  a  hammock  woven  from 
grasses  or  the  inner  bark  of  trees — and  the  Indian  was  content. 
A  string  of  colored  pearls  around  his  neck  might  be  the  sole 
relief  of  his  nakedness,  even  a  breech-cloth  being  absent. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


429 


The  first  result  01  the  visit  was  that  the  ""king"  urged  the  ex- 
plorers to  commence  a  mission  in  his  territory,  and  offered  a 
plot  01  land  in  Bluefields  besides  an  island  inhabited  by  Rama 
Indians.  The  Germans  were  sohcitous  of  the  estabhshment  of 
stated  ser\-ices  in  their  own  tongue,  and  the  British  consul 
promised  hearty  cooperation. 

Pfeiffer"s  report  and  his  own  willingness  to  become  a  pioneer 
led  to  his  appointment,  with  Eugene  Lundberg  and  Ernest 
George  Kandler  as  his  co-workers.  They  reached  Bluefields  on 
March  14,  1849.  Most  of  the  other  Europeans,  however,  re- 
moved to  Greytown,  created  a  free  port  of  entry  in  185 1  because 
of  the  thousands  who  sought  the  Golden  Gate  of  Cahfornia  \-ia 
Nicaragua. 

In  October,  1853,  the  baptism  of  the  first  convert,  a  negro 
woman,  took  place.  Intercourse  \\-ith  the  Indians  was  still  lim- 
ited. But  as  the  language  was  mastered,  visits  to  Indian  vil- 
lages, especially  to  Pearl  Key  lagoon,  became  fruitful.  When 
Rudolph  Wullschlaegel  in  June,  1855,  on  his  way  from  Surinam 
to  take  his  place  in  the  Conference,  rejoiced  the  missionaries 
by  an  unexpected  visit,  and  consecrated  their  new  church,  the 
average  attendance  was  about  three  hundred.  The  consecra- 
tion was  accompanied  by  the  baptism  of  one  of  the  sisters  of  the 
"king,"  Matilda,  the  first  of  the  Indians  to  openly  decide  for 
Christ.  2\Ieantime  reenforcements  had  arrived — amongst  the 
rest  Paulsen  Jiirgersen  and  \viie,  who  proceeded  to  Pearl  Key 
lagoon,  and  founded  Magdala.  As  the  crow  flies  this  place  was 
about  twenty  miles  distant,  but  ten  more  by  the  waterway  na\4- 
gable  for  canoes. 

In  1854  Pfeiffer  retired.  His  successor  was  Gustavus  Feurig, 
well  qualified  by  fourteen  years  of  experience  in  Jamaica.  Mag- 
dala now  gave  large  promise  of  results.  The  visits  of  the  mis- 
sionaries to  Rama  Key,  an  island  fifteen  miles  from  Bluefields, 
awoke  a  ready  response  among  the  Indians,  and  a  church  was 
built  in  1857. 

The  blackfellows  of  Austraha  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
church  in  the  years  followng  the  synod  of  1848.  Australia  has 
been  compared  to  "one  of  the  atolls  that  lie  in  the  tropic  waters 
around  it.  being  in  effect  a  great  ring  of  fertile  soil  surrounded 
by  the  barrenness  of  the  ocean,  and  enclosing  in  its  turn  a  deso- 
late sea  of  rock  and  sand.    In  the  inhospitable  interior  of  Aus- 


430 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tralia  all  the  kindly  influences  of  nature  fail.  The  rain  clouds 
shun  it,  or  pass  over  it  without  meeting  the  hills  that  should 
arrest  their  course  and  pour  them  down  in  showers  upon  the 
yearning  soil ;  rivers,  wandering  inland  from  their  sources  near 
the  shore,  sink  into  it  without  causing  it  to  smile ;  its  secrets 
are  locked  in  perpetual  drought,  and  its  histories  are  written 
in  the  bones  of  men  and  beasts,  that  striving  to  penetrate  its 
mysteries,  only  added  thereto  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  fate  that 
overtook  them  in  its  wilds.  But  along  the  entire  coast-Une,  and 
exending  inland  variously  for  a  distance  of  from  fifty  to  two 
hundred  miles,  is  a  belt  of  rich  land."  Again  between  it  and 
the  sea  of  sand  and  rock  that  makes  up  the  bulk  of  the  conti- 
nent, is  another  belt  of  poorer  soil  suitable  only  for  raising 
sheep,  but  excellent  for  that. 

At  the  time  of  the  Dutch  discovery  the  habitable  strips  along 
the  sea-coasts  were  occupied  by  the  Papuans,  the  very  lowest 
of  savages.  Such  their  descendants  have  largely  remained. 
Divided  into  very  small  tribes,  they  are  nomads  by  inherited  m- 
stinct.  A  hut  of  branches  or  bark,  scarcely  affording  shelter, 
is  their  only  home,  if  such  it  may  be  called.  For  clothing  at 
most  they  wear  an  opossum  skin  or  a  grass  mat.  When  first 
discovered  they  had  not  a  single  cooking  utensil.  Without  a 
domestic  animal,  and  cultivating  nothing,  their  food  was  the 
flesh  of  the  kangaroo,  opossum,  wild  dog,  lizard,  snake,  rat,  or 
loathsome  reptile  or  grub,  or  even  that  of  a  fellow  man.  Their 
women  were  slaves  and  beasts  of  burden.  Their  infants  were 
killed  without  compunctions,  if  sickly.  Of  religion  they  had 
very  little.  Their  conception  of  God  was  that  of  a  gigantic  old 
man,  lying  asleep  for  ages  with  his  head  resting  upon  his  arm, 
which  is  deep  in  the  sand.  One  day  he  is  expected  to  awake 
and  eat  up  the  world.  Religious  ceremonies  were  confined  to 
circumcision  and  the  "corroborce."  In  connection  with  the 
former,  inflicted  on  youths  as  they  came  to  maturity,  various 
rites  were  observed,  like  the  punching  of  a  hole  through  the 
nose  for  the  insertion  of  an  ornament,  and  the  knocking  out  of 
the  two  front  teeth  with  a  wooden  mallet.  The  corroborcc  was  a 
midnight  orgy,  when  the  naked  savages  danced  and  howled  till 
exhausted,  having  previously  so  marked  their  bodies  with  white 
clay,  that  at  some  distance  they  resembled  moving  skeletons. 
The  vilest  immorality  accompanied  these  heathen  rites.  The 
dead  were  indeed  interred  with  care  in  graves  lined  with  bark, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


and  kept  free  from  weeds,  whilst  food,  and  after  it  had  been  in- 
troduced, tobacco,  might  be  placed  to  supply  needs  in  the  spirit- 
world.  In  ghosts  and  in  witchcraft  they  had  firm  faith,  and  in 
the  power  of  the  "evil  eye."  It  was  very  unlucky  for  a  man  to 
meet  his  mother-in-law.  To  avoid  the  blight  of  her  counte- 
nance, he  would  go  far  out  of  his  way.  Such  were  the  black- 
fellows,  when  the  whites  arrived,  and  unfortunately  for  them  the 
first  whites  with  whom  they  came  in  contact  were  those  that  did 
them  no  good.  In  1788,  eighteen  years  after  Captain  Cook's 
famous  explorations,  the  British  Government  began  to  make 
use  of  Australia  as  a  penal  colony.  The  convicts  taught  the 
natives  the  vices  of  civilization.  Drink  began  to  play  havoc 
amongst  them.  The  ex-convict  who  remained  in  the  covmtry 
thought  no  more  of  hunting  and  shooting  natives  than  kanga- 
roos. 

Sporadic  attempts  at  missions  amongst  them  had  been  made 
by  various  societies ;  but  up  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  possibility  of  converting  and  changing  the  native  Aus- 
traHans,  body,  soul  and  spirit,  had  not  been  demonstrated. 
Meantime  they  were  tending  to  extinction  in  colonial  Australia. 

Repeated  calls  had  come  to  the  Moravian  Church  in  the  thir- 
ties and  in  the  forties  to  have  compassion  on  this  race.  In 
Herrnhut,  Niesky  and  other  German  congregations  "Australian 
Associations"  had  been  formed  amongst  the  young  men,  for 
stated  prayer  and  systematic  giving  in  behalf  of  a  future  mis- 
sion. The  synod  had  therefore  committed  the  church  to  an 
attempt.  Andrew  Frederick  Christian  Tager,  a  member  of 
Niesky,  and  Frederick  WiUiam  Spieseke  of  Gnadenberg  were 
despatched  as  pioneers,  and  arrived  at  Melbourne  on  February 
25,  1850,  where  a  cordial  welcome  was  accorded  them  by  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  Joseph  La  Trobe,  a  brother  of  the  Mission 
Secretary  in  London.  To  his  kind  offices  and  the  sympathy  of 
Christian  friends  the  favorable  issue  of  negotiations  for  a  tract 
of  land  and  the  first  estabHshment  of  the  missionaries  in  their 
new  home  in  the  "MaJlee,"  or  scrub,  were  largely  owing. 

Permanent  operations  were  commenced  in  October,  185 1,  on 
a  reserve  in  the  Lake  Boga  District.  The  terms  of  the  grant 
indeed  contemplated  a  possibility  that  the  course  of  events 
might  render  inexpedient  the  permanence  of  the  missionary 
operations  in  this  particular  quarter.  The  climate  proved 
healthy,  save  that  Tager  suffered  from  an  affection  of  the  eyes. 


432 


A  HISTORY  OF 


But  the  natives  were  exceedingly  shy  and  timid,  and  their  no- 
madic tendency  appeared  to  be  almost  invincible. 

In  the  year  1854  an  additional  missionary,  Paul  Hansen,  ar- 
rived, and  La  Trobe,  resigning  office,  returned  to  England. 
Now  the  position  of  the  missionaries  was  rendered  trying  by  the 
discovery  of  gold  near  Mount  Alexander.  The  road  to  the  dig- 
gings lay  along  the  River  Murray  and  past  the  station.  The 
unbridled  wickedness  often  attendant  upon  a  rush  to  gold-dig- 
gings, and  disputes  as  to  the  right  of  way  through  the  mission- 
tract  and  the  title  to  the  mission-lands,  vexed  their  souls.  The 
civil  authorities  decided  the  points  in  dispute  against  the  mis- 
sion. Tager,  now  in  poor  health,  acting  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility as  superintendent,  and  without  consulting  the  authorities 
at  home,  in  1856  abandoned  the  field,  though  Spieseke  pro- 
tested. 

After  a  careful  investigation  of  the  whole  affair  the  Confer- 
ence could  not  withhold  censure.  The  promise  was  given,  that 
the  honor  of  the  church  should  be  redeemed  by  a  new  attempt 
as  speedily  as  practicable. 

The  third  new  undertaking  of  these  years  had  Central  Asia 
as  its  objective.  From  almost  the  beginning  of  its  missionary 
operations  the  Moravian  Church  under  the  leadership  of  Count 
Zinzendorf  had  directed  its  gaze  towards  the  millions  of  Mon- 
goHa  and  the  Chinese  Empire.  Several  unsuccessful  efforts  had 
been  made  via  Russia  or  Persia.  From  the  standpoint  of  the 
church  the  founding  of  Sarepta  was  planned  as  one  pier  of  a 
bridge  to  the  Orient.  When  the  Czar  Alexander  I  looked  with 
favor  upon  the  Brethren,  Godfrey  Schill  and  Christian  Hiibner 
of  Sarepta  in  1815  had  been  quick  to  renew  efforts  in  behalf  of 
the  Asiatics.  Two  Buriats  from  Lake  Baikal  had  been  con- 
verted. The  Gospels  had  been  printed  in  Kalmuck  Tartar  by 
Isaac  Schmidt  of  St.  Petersburg.  But  in  1822  an  imperial  edict 
had  peremptorily  prohibited  further  operations. 

The  representations  of  Dr.  Giitslaff,  of  China,  when  on  a  visit 
to  Herrnhut  in  1850,  therefore  received  a  sympathetic  hearing. 
He  wished  the  Moravian  Church  to  again  seek  to  enter  the 
great  Chinese  Empire  from  the  west,  so  that  two  streams  of 
missionary  force  might  meet  in  the  heart  of  the  land  when  open 
to  Europeans. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


433 


Numerous  volunteers  came  forward.  Edward  Pagell  of 
Gnadenfrei  and  Augustus  William  Heyde  of  Herrnhut  were  se- 
lected. Calcutta  was  reached  on  November  23,  1853.  Their 
first  destination  was  Kotghur,  where  IMr.  Prochnow,  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  welcomed  and  assisted  them  as 
laborers  in  a  common  cause.  Here  a  considerable  period  was 
spent  in  linguistic  study  under  a  Tibetan  lama.  In  April,  1855, 
they  set  out  on  a  tour  of  preliminary  investigation,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  two  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  had  recently  been 
murdered  when  attempting  to  proceed  to  Tibet  by  way  of  As- 
sam. At  Leh,  in  Ladak,  they  were  made  to  feel  anything  but 
welcome.  Nor  did  they  discover  a  bright  prospect  for  a  mission 
in  Chinese  territory.  When  the  frontier  was  crossed  by  passes 
at  heights  varying  from  13,000  to  17,000  feet  above  sea  level, 
nothing  was  gained.  Invariably  the  Tibetans  refused  to  sell 
provisions  of  any  sort  for  man  or  beast ;  and  the  "gopas,"  or 
head  men  of  each  village,  besought  the  Europeans  to  return, 
saying  that  if  they  did  not  succeed  in  stopping  them,  they  them- 
selves would  have  to  answer  to  higher  officials  with  their  heads. 

The  next  winter  was  therefore  spent  in  Kotghur.  Circum- 
stances necessitated  the  founding  of  the  first  station  amongst 
the  Tibetan  speaking  Buddhists  of  Lahul,  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  frontier  of  Chinese  Tibet.  It  was  the  best  that  could  be 
done.  Through  the  intervention  of  Major  Lake  of  the  British 
East  India  Company,  in  1856  land  was  secured  in  the  valley  of 
the  Bhagar,  sixty  miles  or  so  from  the  borders,  near  Kyelang, 
and  across  the  river  from  the  town  of  Kardang,  at  an  elevation 
of  about  10,000  feet.  Before  winter  the  mission  house  was  com- 
pleted— a  solitary  outpost  of  Christianity  amid  the  Western 
Himalayas,  over  against  the  fortress  of  the  Dalai  Lama ;  but 
again  the  missionaries  sought  the  friendly  hospitality  of  Kot- 
ghur, in  order  that  early  in  1857  they  might  welcome  the  arrival 
of  their  future  leader.  This  was  Henry  Augustus  Jaeschke, 
hitherto  a  professor  in  the  college  at  Niesky.  Appointed 
because  of  his  preeminent  linguistic  abilities,  that  he  might 
translate  the  Scriptures  into  Tibetan,  he  arrived  at  Calcutta  in 
January,  and  hastened  to  his  colleagues.  With  his  arrival  a 
new  stage  of  the  work  of  this  mission  began. 


29 


434 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LII. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1857. 

The  synod  on  whose  issues  so  much  depended  convened  at 
Herrnhut  on  June  8,  1857.  It  was  constituted  of  sixty-one  mem- 
bers, five  of  whom  had  been  called  from  the  mission  fields  at 
home  and  abroad,  nine  represented  the  American  Province  and 
twelve  the  British.  Bishops  Nitschmann  presided,  with  Charles 
F.  Kluge  as  Vice-President. 

At  an  early  stage  in  the  proceedings  a  committee  of  twenty- 
one  on  the  constitution  of  the  church  was  elected,  each  Province 
being  represented  and  selecting  its  own  representatives.  It  was 
constituted  as  follows :  for  the  German  Province.  Henry  Levin 
Reichel,  Gustavus  Tietzen,  George  David  Cranz,  Theophilus 
Reichel,  Ernest  William  Croger,  Gustavus  Lilliendahl;  for  the 
British  Province,  WilHam  Edwards,  Peter  La  Trobe,  William 
Mallalieu,  John  England,  William  Okely,  John  Smith ;  for  the 
American  Province,  Philip  H.  Goepp,  Lewis  F.  Kampmann, 
Edmund  A.  de  Schweinitz,  Edward  T.  Senseman,  Emil  A.  de 
Schweinitz  and  Levin  T.  Reichel;  for  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference, Ernest  F.  Reichel,  Charles  William  Jahn  and  Henry 
Rudolf  Wullschlaegel.  This  committee  in  the  main  followed 
the  lead  of  the  American  proposals.  As  adopted,  the  chief 
features  of  the  new  constitution  were  the  following : 

As  hitherto  the  General  Synod  is  the  highest  legislative  body 
for  the  entire  Brethren's  Unity,  and  in  the  last  resort  decides 
all  questions  that  concern  the  Unity.  Fullest  powers  inhere  in 
this  assembly,  with  regard  alike  to  doctrine,  ritual,  polity  and 
the  administration  of  the  missions  and  other  joint  undertakings 
of  the  three  provinces.  The  principle  of  equal  representation 
of  the  three  Provinces  in  the  General  Synod  is  recognized, 
though  the  American  proposal  basing  representation  upon 
communicant  membership  is  rejected.  Nine  elected  delegates 
to  each  General  Synod  shall  be  chosen  by  each  of  the  Provincial 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


435 


Synods,  the  American  church  to  be  considered  a  unit  in  the  gen- 
eral count,  seven  delegates  being  apportioned  to  the  North  and 
two  to  the  South.  By  virtue  of  their  office  all  the  bishops  of 
the  Unity  shall  have  seats  and  votes  in  the  General  Synod,  and 
each  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  the  American  church  hav- 
ing two  Conferences,  shall  have  the  right  to  send  one  represen- 
tative. 

To  the  Provincial  Synods  is  committed  full  power  to  legislate 
in  all  purely  Provincial  affairs,  with  the  proviso  that  any  action 
taken  by  them  in  contravention  of  the  transactions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  shall  be  invalid.  The  American  and  British  Synods 
enjoy  the  right  of  electing  their  respective  Provincial  Elders' 
Conferences,  responsible  henceforth  to  the  Provincial  Synods 
for  their  administration  of  Provincial  affairs.  Each  Provincial 
Synod  shall  further  be  empowered  to  determine  the  number  of 
delegates  sent  by  each  congregation  thereto,  together  with  the 
mode  of  their  election,  and  to  regulate  its  own  organization  and 
methods  of  procedure.  The  Northern  Synod  in  America  also 
receives  the  right  to  prescribe  its  own  method  of  nominating 
bishops.  The  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  is  to  decide  whether 
a  Provincial  Synod  has  transcended  its  powers. 

The  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  elected  by  the  General 
Synod,  and  responsible  to  it,  remains  as  hitherto  the  highest 
executive  of  the  entire  Unity.  Inasmuch  as  a  desire  for  Pro- 
vincial independence  has  not  as  yet  made  itself  felt  on  the  Con- 
tinent, the  relationship  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  to  the 
German  Province  is  left  undisturbed.  The  constitution  of 
this  body  also  remains  the  same,  with  its  three  departments — 
for  financial  affairs,  for  the  oversight  of  the  pastorates  and  of 
the  educational  undertakings,  and  for  the  management  of  the 
missions. 

The  members  of  the  British  Provincial  Elders'  Conference, 
tmlike  those  in  America,  shall  remain  temporarily  in  a  position 
of  partial  dependence  upon  the  executive  board  of  the  Unity,  in 
that  their  president  shall  be  named  by  the  latter  body.  In  the 
Southern  Province  in  America,  the  administrator  of  the  Unity's 
property  in  North  Carolina  shall  continue  to  be  cx-ofUcio  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Provincial  executiA^e. 

With  the  granting  of  independence  to  the  transmarine 
churches,  there  naturally  v/as  connected  a  financial  settlement 
and  separation.     According  to  the  arrangement  which  was 


436 


A  HISTORY  OF 


adopted,  the  German  Province  was  to  become  the  owner  of  all 
estates  to  which  the  Unity  as  such  now  held  title,  including  the 
Unity's  lands  in  North  Carolina.  In  compensation  a  fixed  sum 
was  to  be  paid  to  each  of  the  other  Provinces  for  the  defrayal 
of  general  needs  of  the  Province.  This  separation  of  accounts 
was  of  greater  significance  for  the  British  and  Wachovian  Prov- 
inces than  for  the  American  Province  North,  whose  financial 
independence  had  already  commenced.  Henceforth  there  re- 
mained as  joint  property  of  the  Unity  only  the  funds  of  the  mis- 
sions and  a  fund  for  the  defrayal  of  the  costs  of  general  synods 
and  of  official  visits  undertaken  by  members  of  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  in  Britain  and  America. 

The  newly  elected  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  consisted  of 
the  following :  Department  of  Education  and  the  Pastoral 
Ofifice,  Bishop  John  Martin  Nitschmann,  Charles  Frederick 
Schordan,  Charles  William  Jahn,  Gustavus  Theodore  Tietzen; 
Department  of  Finance,  Bishop  Christian  William  Matthiesen, 
John  Ballein,  Gustavus  Theodore  Reichel,  Hermann  Ludolph 
Mentz;  Department  of  Missions,  Ernest  Frederick  Reichel, 
Godfrey  Andrew  Cunow,  Henry  Rudolf  Wullschlaegel  and 
Levin  Theodore  Reichel. 

Revision  of  the  constitution  did  not  monopolize  the  thought 
of  synod.  The  administration  of  the  missions  during  recent 
years  received  thorough  scrutiny.  Expressions  in  the  Results 
of  previous  synods  with  reference  to  faith  in  the  "chief  eldership" 
of  the  Saviour  were  so  changed  as  to  remove  due  cause  for  ob- 
jection. The  lot  was  retained,  but  uniformity  in  the  method 
of  its  use  was  no  longer  essential. 

In  deference  to  the  wish  of  the  British  Province  the  para- 
graph referring  to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  was  omitted 
from  the  chapter  on  doctrine  and  transferred  to  that  setting 
forth  the  relation  of  the  German  branch  of  the  church  to  the 
Evangelical  church  on  the  Continent. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


437 


CHAPTER  LIII. 


THE  GERMAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1857  TO  1869, 

The  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  organized  b}'  electing  Bishop 
Nitschmann  President  and  Bishop  Matthiesen  Vice-President. 
But  the  official  circle  did  not  long  remain  intact.  Bishop  Jahn 
died  on  January  i,  1858.  In  his  place  the  pastor  of  Neuwied, 
George  David  Cranz,  was  chosen.  On  December  16,  1862,  the 
venerable  Bishop  Nitschmann  entered  into  rest.  He  was  in  his 
seventy-seventh  year,  and  had  served  for  almost  fifty-seven 
years.  Now  Bishop  Matthiesen  became  President,  and  Gus- 
tavus  Tietzen  Vice-President,  whilst  Ernest  William  Croger 
entered  the  Board.  On  March  29,  1864,  Bishop  Wullschlaegel 
died,  and  on  October  11  John  Ballein.  The  vacancy  in  the 
Department  of  Missions  was  filled  by  the  election  of  Augustus 
Clemens,  superintendent  of  the  missions  in  Jamaica,  whilst  the 
place  of  Ballein  was  taken  by  Ernest  N.  Hahn,  warden  of  Neu- 
wied. Finally  Bishop  Cunow,  suf¥ering  in  health  from  the 
fatigue  of  an  arduous  visit  to  the  West  Indies,  retired  in  August, 
1865.  He  died  on  June  24  of  the  following  year.  The  superin- 
tendent of  the  South  African  missions,  Frederick  William  Kiihn, 
became  a  member  of  the  Board. 

In  the  "settlements"  the  church  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its 
usefulness.  For  the  German  Province  the  synod  of  1857  had 
involved  less  of  immediate  change  than  for  the  American  and 
British.  Nevertheless  the  annals  were  not  blank.  During  1858 
a  new  congregation  was  organized  at  Goldberg,  in  Silesia. 
Gnadenberg  on  May  16,  1858,  witnessed  a  counterpart  of  the 
interesting  transaction  at  Herrnhut  in  1844.  Dr.  Siedler  hav- 
ing removed  to  Pomerania,  with  the  consent  and  approval  of 
the  Royal  Consistory  of  Posen  and  of  the  Ministry  of  Worship 
in  Berlin,  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authority  in  Prussia,  Dr.  C. 
F.  Gobel,  who  had  been  chosen  his  successor,  was  consecrated 
a  bishop.    In  turn  Bishop  Gobel  next  year  consecrated  to  the 


438 


A  HISTORY  OF 


episcopate  and  associated  with  himself  Pastor  Gumbrecht,  of 
Waschke,  near  Bojanowa,  and  thus  fully  secvired  the  episcopate 
to  these  congregations.  In  Poland,  on  October  14,  i860,  the 
Diaspora  derived  encouragement  from  the  dedication  of  a  new 
chapel  at  Lodz,  and  on  May  21,  1865,  a  similar  dedication  took 
place  at  Zdonskawola.  About  this  time  the  Diaspora  in  other 
parts  of  the  Russian  Empire,  and  in  particular  in  Livonia,  again 
occasioned  gravest  anxiety.  Plostile  Lutheran  clergymen 
claimed  that  the  edict  of  1834  prohibited  any  except  ordained 
ministers  or  candidates  for  the  ministry  from  engaging  in  the 
utterance  of  free  speech  or  prayer  in  public  assemblies  for  re- 
ligious worship.  If  allowed,  this  interpretation  would  negative 
the  usefulness  of  the  large  body  of  "national  helpers."  The 
synod  of  1857  had  counseled  loyal  obedience  to  the  constituted 
authorities,  trusting  that  time  would  soften  bigotry  and  remove 
prejudice.  In  1859  an  unfavorable  decision  emanated  from  St. 
Petersburg.  Before  long  the  General  Consistory  issued  a  mani- 
festo against  the  formation  of  any  ccclesiola  in  ecclesia.  Inas- 
much as  this  struck  at  the  very  existence  of  the  Diaspora  socie- 
ties, which  in  Livonia  now  embraced  a  membership  of  from 
forty  to  fifty  thousand,  the  ^Moravian  Church  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  General  Consistory,  setting  forth  the  unselfish 
and  non-proselyting  character  of  its  Diaspora  work.  In  1861 
Hermann  Plitt,  of  the  seminary  at  Gnadenfeld,  followed  this  up 
with  a  polemical  apologetic  in  defense  of  the  Livonian  work, 
under  the  title  of  "Die  Brndcrgcmcinc  iiiid  die  Luthcrisehe  Kirehe 
in  Livland."  In  the  event  the  Livonian  Diaspora  continued  to 
prosecute  its  work  of  edification,  but  under  very  disadvan- 
tageous and  annoying  conditions.  Its  superintendent  was  now 
Christian  Edward  Burkhardt,  who  took  the  place  of  Gustavus 
Miiller  in  1859.  On  the  other  hand  in  French  Switzerland  the 
Diaspora  widened  its  channels  of  usefulness,  a  new  center  being 
established  at  Peseux,  near  Neuchatel,  in  1859.  and  a  third 
Diaspora  agent  being  appointed  for  French  Switzerland  in  1856. 

In  1862  the  German  Province  convened  its  first  synod  under 
the  conditions  of  the  new  constitution.  It  was  in  session  at 
Herrnhut  from  May  16  to  July  16.  Bishop  Matthiesen  pre- 
sided. Attention  was  mainly  directed  to  the  inner  life  of  the 
congregations  and  to  the  needs  of  the  Diaspora — especially  in 
Livonia.  The  erection  of  a  new  building  for  the  college  at 
Niesky  was  ordered,  an  undertaking  happily  completed  on  Octo- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


439 


ber  17,  1865.  Sanction  was  given  to  the  launching  of  a  new 
bi-monthly  periodical,  Dcr  Bruder  Bote,  the  net  financial  profits 
of  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  Diaspora.  Professor  Plitt 
was  appointed  its  editor,  assisted  by  Joseph  Reinhold  Ronner, 
who  had  succeeded  the  venerable  Christian  Frederick  von 
Schweinitz  as  archivist  in  1859.  The  compilation  of  a  history 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  previous  to  its  overthrow  in  consequence 
of  the  Counter  Reformation  was  authorized.  Finally  it  was 
determined  to  renew  activity  amid  the  homes  of  the  fathers  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  This  took  the  form  of  Diaspora  labor, 
rather  than  that  of  actual  church  extension,  Emanuel  Klein- 
schmidt  of  Neusalz  being  sent  this  same  year  and  a  society 
being  formed  at  Rosendorf.  In  1865  F.  D.  Peter  was  stationed 
at  Tschenkowitz ;  in  1867  William  Hattwig  at  Rothwasser,  and 
in  the  same  year  Andrew  Kother  in  Prague,  to  be  followed  there 
two  years  later  by  Otto  Bernhard. 

But  the  peaceful  activities  of  the  church  in  Germany  were  to 
sufifer  rude  interruptions.  During  the  Schleswig-Holstein  War 
the  resources  of  Christiansfeld  were  taxed  by  the  billeting  of 
soldiers  whose  numbers  sometimes  exceeded  one  thousand,  the 
church  used  as  a  hospital.  The  meetings  of  Diaspora  circles  in 
the  vicinity  were  interrupted.  Then  the  "Seven  Weeks'  War" 
broke  out.  Dreyse's  needle-gun,  the  terribly  significant  effi- 
ciency of  which  was  now  to  be  revealed  to  the  world,  practically 
multiplied  Prussia's  battalions.  Hesse-Cassel  and  Saxony  were 
overrun  without  a  battle.  After  a  series  of  minor  engagements 
the  three  Prussian  armies  converged  upon  Sadowa,  and  on  July 
3,  1866,  the  shattered  Austrian  army  after  a  fearfully  bloody 
conflict  retreated  in  demoralization.  Prussia's  dominance  in 
German  affairs  was  assured  and  the  foundation  laid  for  the  new 
empire  with-  Austria  excluded  in  the  new  unification  of  the 
Fatherland. 

During  this  crisis  several  of  the  Moravian  congregations 
renewed  the  experiences  of  the  Napoleonic  age — at  least  measu- 
rably— Niesky,  Herrnhut  and  Gnadenfrei  being  in  particular 
subjected  to  the  billeting  of  troops,  and  Gnadenfrei  and  Gnaden- 
berg  being  drawn  upon  for  the  establishment  of  military  hospi- 
tals. Inasmuch  as  the  railroad  from  Lobau  to  Zittau,  which 
passes  through  Herrnhut,  was  for  a  time  the  only  line  open  as 
a  means  of  direct  communication  between  Prussia  and  the  seat 
of  war,  all  civil  traffic  was  suspended,  and  train  after  train,  first 


440 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  men  to  the  front,  then  of  sick  and  wounded  on  the  way  home, 
passed  through  by  day  and  night.  Nobly  did  the  people  rise 
to  the  opportunity  to  minister  to  suffering  for  humanity's  sake 
and  in  the  name  of  Christ,  making  no  distinction  between  the 
friends  and  the  foes  of  their  Saxon  land.  Nor  were  the  religious 
needs  of  the  troops  forgotten.  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
copies  of  the  New  Testament,  besides  copies  of  tracts  and  devo- 
tional works  were  freely  given.  When  Herrnhut  became  a 
stated  halting  place  for  the  trainloads  of  wounded  who  were 
being  removed  from  the  field  hospital  at  Koniginhof,  an  organi- 
zation was  effected  to  supply  them  with  all  manner  of  refresh- 
ments and  to  re-dress  their  wounds  while  waiting.  Unstinted 
liberahty  was  lavished  alike  upon  Prussians,  Saxons,  Austrians 
and  Hungarians.  Moreover  many  men  and  women  crossed  the 
frontier  to  offer  needed  services  as  nurses  upon  the  field  and  in 
the  various  temporary  hospitals  along  the  front.  Abundant 
testimony  was  borne  to  the  fact  that  the  Prince  of  Peace  was 
thus  glorified  amid  the  horrors  of  human  strife. 

From  June  4  to  July  21,  1868,  a  synod  was  convened  prepara- 
tory to  the  general  synod  of  the  following  year.  Bishop  Ernest 
Reichel  presiding.  Amongst  the  most  important  of  its  trans- 
actions was  the  recommendation  that  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference take  steps  to  found  a  "mission  institute,"  to  prepare 
men  for  foreign  service.  When  the  question  of  the  possible 
abandonment  of  the  Livonian  Diaspora,  owing  to  the  incessant 
hostility  of  the  Lutheran  clergy,  was  referred  to  the  decision 
of  the  lot,  a  negative  answer  was  received. 

During  the  year  1868  the  first  weekly  periodical  of  the  Ger- 
man Province  appeared — the  Herrnhut,  an  unofficial  publication. 
Even  a  cursory  review  of  the  period,  however,  would  be  incom- 
plete without  at  least  a  passing  reference  to  the  literary  labors  of 
Hermann  PHtt,  President  of  the  theological  seminary  at  Gna- 
denfeld  since  1853.  His  Die  Gcmcine  Gottcs  in  ihrem  Geiste  tind 
ihren  Formen,  published  in  1859,  and  his  Evangelische  Glaubens- 
lehrc  in  1863 — the  former  a  presentation  of  the  ideal  spirit  and 
calling  of  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren  and  the  latter  a  s_vstematic 
exposition  of  its  theology — were  standards  for  years  to  come. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


441 


CHAPTER  LIV. 


THE  BRITISH  PROVINCE,  FROM   1857  TO  1869. 

Samuel  Rudolph  Reicliel,  Treasurer  of  the  British  Provincial 
Board,  had  died  at  Herrnhut  during  the  sessions  of  the  synod 
of  1857.  William  Mallaheu,  hitherto  agent  of  missions  in  Lon- 
don, was  elected  to  the  office. 

From  June  29  to  July  15,  1858,  the  Provincial  synod  held  its 
sessions  in  Bristol,  a  gathering  of  special  importance  for  the 
adjustment  of  affairs  in  Britain  to  the  conditions  created  by  the 
new  constitution  of  the  Unity.  Bishop  Cunow  brought  greet- 
ings from  his  colleagues  and  the  church  abroad.  Baltons- 
borough  was  formally  recognized  as  a  congregation,  and  its 
pastor,  John  Miller,  forthwith  admitted  to  a  seat  and  vote. 
Cheering  news  came  from  Ireland,  where  a  remarkable  revival 
of  religion  had  characterized  the  past  months,  having  had  its 
rise  in  the  vicinity  of  Gracefield.  The  commencement  could  be 
traced  to  the  prayers  of  a  few  humble  but  earnest  men.  Deep 
concern  for  the  essential  grounds  of  assurance  had  become  wide- 
spread. At  times  four  to  five  thousand  people  had  assembled 
for  preaching  and  worship  in  the  open  air.  Though  strange 
excitement  had  been  a  marked  feature  of  the  awakening,  the 
reality  of  the  Spirit's  influence  was  attested  by  the  changed  lives 
of  multitudes.  Samuel  Connor,  pastor  of  Gracefield,  had  been 
indefatigable  in  ministrations  in  connection  with  this  season  of 
grace,  and  he  and  his  people  had  reaped  marked  benefit. 

Having  been  definitely  separated  from  the  church  in  Germany, 
ministers  and  delegates  alike  recognized  that  a  theological  semi- 
nary was  now  absolutely  essential  to  the  Province.  Therefore 
another  attempt  was  ordered,  the  new  seminary  to  have  two 
departments,  to  train  teachers  for  the  schools  and  to  prepare 
men  for  service  in  the  home  missions  and  congregations,  though 
an  absolute  cessation  of  the  sending  of  British  ministerial  can- 
didates to  Niesky  and  Gnadenfeld  was  not  necessarily  involved. 


442 


A  HISTORY  OF 


This  new  "Training  Institution"  should  be  under  the  immediate 
control  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  and  a  committee 
of  live  was  elected  to  cooperate  with  that  body  in  conducting' 
annual  examinations,  etc.,  viz.:  William  Phillips,  John  England, 
J.  Slater,  J.  T.  Purser  and  James  La  Trobe.  The  commodious 
building  at  Fulneck,  formerly  occupied  by  the  unmarried  men, 
was  to  be  appropriated  for  this  college — a  measure  which  went 
into  effect  in  October,  i860,  when  John  England  was  inducted 
into  office  as  its  president,  Henry  Edwards  Shawe  being  later 
appointed  an  additional  instructor.  From  the  separation  of 
the  financial  interests  of  the  three  Provinces  about  $90,000  had 
accrued  to  the  British  Province.  It  appeared  that  the  Pro- 
vincial accounts  were  arranged  under  a  number  of  distinct  heads, 
as  follows :  The  Ministers'  Fund,  for  which  voluntary  contri- 
butions were  received  from  time  to  time,  was  designed  to  sup- 
plement inadequate  ministerial  salaries ;  the  Provincial  Expense 
Account  dealt  with  such  items  as  the  cost  of  official  journeys  and 
the  appointment  and  removal  of  ministers ;  the  Sustentation 
Fund  provided  pensions ;  the  Educational  Expense  Account 
cared  for  the  education  of  ministers'  children,  the  accounts  of 
Boarding  Schools,  as  such,  forming  a  distinct  phase  of  Provin- 
cial finance.  There  was  also  a  separate  account  for  the  estates 
of  the  church,  at  Gracehill,  Gracefield,  Fulneck,  Fairfield,  Ock- 
brook  and  Dukinfield,  which  were  now  to  be  all  merged  into 
one.  A  book  account,  a  Superannuated  Teachers'  Fund,  and  a. 
fund  for  the  salaries  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  com- 
pleted the  list.  The  report  of  the  Treasurer,  William  Mallalieu, 
gave  great  satisfaction  for  its  clearness,  and  distinctly  testified 
to  the  success  and  ability  of  his  management  and  that  of  his 
predecessor,  Rudolph  Reichel. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Bishop  Edwards  sought  relief 
from  the  duties  of  a  Provincial  Elder,  synod  brought  constraint 
upon  him  and  paid  a  tribute  of  confidence  to  him  and  his  col- 
leagues by  insisting  upon  a  reelection  of  the  three. 

For  one  congregation,  whose  development  had  been  so- 
modest  and  gradual  as  almost  to  escape  notice,  Malmesbury  in 
Wiltshire,  these  were  important  years.  In  the  days  of  Cennick, 
a  society,  affiliated  with  Tytherton.  had  worshiped  here,  later 
enjoying  the  ministrations  of  men  like  Miinster,  Cooke  and  Par- 
minter.  Rogers  had  become  the  first  resident  minister  in  1768, 
but  not  until  1827  had  the  organization  distinctly  severed  con- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


443 


nection  with  Tytherton.  Now  in  1859  Malmesbury  rebuilt  its 
church,  enlarging  it  to  double  the  size  of  the  old  one,  and  in  the 
following  year  opened  a  new  Sunday-school. 

On  September  27,  1858,  WiUiam  Ignatius  Okely  died — one  of 
the  leaders  in  recent  years.  Born  in  1804,  at  Mirfield,  where  his 
father  was  pastor,  he  had  originally  engaged  in  the  architect's 
profession  at  Bristol,  but  in  1837  yielded  to  the  constraint  of  an 
inner  call,  and  removed  to  Fulneck  in  order  to  pursue  a  course 
of  theological  study,  on  the  completion  of  which  a  visit  in  Ger- 
many enabled  him  to  form  an  acquaintance  with  the  life  of  the 
church  abroad.  He  had  been  popular  as  a  pastor  in  a  number 
of  congregations,  and  had  been  a  British  representative  at  the 
synod  of  1857.  The  death  of  Bishop  Rogers  on  July  26,  1862, 
seventy-six  years  of  age,  was  followed  by  the  consecration  of 
James  La  Trobe  at  Ockbrook,  on  January  18,  1863,  by 
Bishops  Edwards  and  Seifferth. 

From  June  24  to  July  8  of  the  latter  year  the  Provincial 
synod  was  again  in  session,  Bedford  being  its  place  of  convoca- 
tion, and  Bishop  SeifTerth  being  again  chosen  President.  Special 
attention  was  devoted  to  home  missions,  and  Louis  H.  Spence 
was  appointed  Treasurer  and  Charles  Sutclifife  Secretary  of 
the  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  enterprises  to  which  its 
energies  were  directed,  now  embraced  the  following:  Eydon, 
Culworth  and  Priors  Marston,  near  Woodford ;  Risely,  near 
Bedford ;  Horton  and  Heckmondwike,  in  Yorkshire ;  Crook,  in 
Durham ;  Brockweir,  affiliated  with  Bristol ;  Bakewell,  on  the 
Wye,  in  Derbyshire ;  Pendine,  in  South  Wales ;  and  West  Pen- 
nard,  near  Baltonsborough.  The  last  two  owed  their  exist- 
ence to  individual  self-sacrifice,  rather  than  to  associated  ac- 
tivities. At  Pendine,  Charles  Ellis  was  laboring  at  his  own 
charges,  and  at  West  Pennard,  Charles  Cooney  had  started  a 
day-school  at  his  own  risk,  and  had  commenced  to  gather  a 
congregation.  Risely  dated  back  to  Cennick's  day.  The 
group  in  the  vicinity  of  Woodford,  like  Horton  and  Brockweir, 
also  belonged  to  the  decades  preceding  the  present.  Heck- 
mondwike a  busy  manufacturing  town  of  Yorkshire,  had  been 
commenced  in  1859  by  members  of  the  Mirfield  congrega- 
tion who  resided  there.  Crook  owed  its  start  to  William 
Allanson,  who  had  removed  to  a  neighboring  farm  from  Bail- 
don,  and  had  opened  his  house  for  services  conducted  by  J.  P. 
Libbey.    John  Carey  had  removed  hither  from  Greengates  and 


444 


A  HISTORY  OF 


had  at  first  preached  in  the  old  Mechanics'  Institute,  besides 
statedly  holding  services  in  five  neighboring  villages.  A  per- 
manent place  of  worship  had  been  secured  in  May,  i860.  At 
Bakewell,  whither  Brother  Rose  had  recently  gone  in  search 
of  health  at  its  springs,  with  restoration  he  had  commenced  to 
labor  in  a  quiet  way.  Synod  earnestly  commended  these  under- 
takings. Furthermore  it  was  resolved  to  establish  an  official 
monthly  periodical.  The  Messenger,  of  which  Charles  Sutcliffe, 
of  Dukinfield,  was  elected  editor.  The  new  Conference  was 
constituted  of  Bishops  Seifferth  and  La  Trobe  together  with 
WilUam  Mallalieu. 

On  September  24,  1863,  Peter  La  Trobe  died  suddenly  of 
heart  failure  while  on  a  visit  to  Berthelsdorf.  For  forty-two 
years  he  had  been  Secretarius  Unitatis  Fratntm  in  Anglia  and 
Secretary  of  Missions  in  London,  at  first  being  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  latter  office.  He  was  in  his  sixty-ninth  j'ear. 
His  weighty  counsels  in  the  deliberative  assemblies  of  the 
church  had  ever  carried  with  them  much  influence,  and  his  wide 
acquaintance  with  the  missions  and  zeal  for  their  furtherance 
had  made  his  name  a  household  word.  William  Mallalieu  be- 
came Secretarius  Unitatis  Fratrum  in  Anglia.  Thomas  Leopold 
Badham,  recently  Associate  Secretary  of  Misions,  was  charged 
with  the  office  thus  vacated,  and  received  Henry  Edwards  Shawe 
as  his  assistant.  The  duties  of  Advocatus  Fratrum  in  Anglia, 
unassigned  since  the  death  of  John  Frederick  Foster,  in  April, 
1858,  were  given  to  Charles  Joseph  La  Trobe,  the  former  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  of  Victoria.  On  November  12  of  the  same  year 
Samuel  Wilson  died.  His  career  had  been  that  of  an  educator, 
having  been  at  the  head  of  the  schools  at  Fulneck  and  Ockbrook 
for  a  long  series  of  years.  On  January  27,  1867,  John  Carey 
died  at  Gracefield,  having  attained  a  like  age,  despite  his  inde- 
fatigable activity. 

Yet  with  the  removal  of  the  workmen,  the  work  went  on.  On 
October  28,  1865,  the  dedication  of  a  building  erected  for  school 
purposes  at  Westwood,  Oldham,  lying  between  Fairfield  and 
Salem,  gave  notice  of  the  intention  of  the  Moravian  Church  to 
broaden  its  efTorts  to  care  for  the  densely  packed  manufacturing 
population  of  Lancashire,  a  notice  which  was  followed  by  the 
consecration  of  a  church  in  May,  1869.  On  October  13,  1867, 
Bishop  La  Trobe  preached  the  first  Moravian  sermon  in  a  house 
of  worship  at  Durdham  Down,  recently  acquired  from  the  Wes- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


445 


leyans.  In  this  suburb  of  Bristol  persistent  and  effective  evan- 
gelism had  been  in  progress  for  quite  a  number  of  years.  The 
neighborhood  had  borne  a  bad  name  when  it  commenced,  and 
now  the  happy  results  were  appearing. 

The  British  synod  convened  a  third  time  during  the  present 
period,  in  July,  1868,  preparatory  to  the  assembhng  of  the 
approaching  general  synod.  Its  place  of  convocation  was  Ful- 
neck.  The  experience  of  more  than  a  decade  confirmed  the 
wisdom  of  the  constitutional  changes  of  1857.  The  reelection 
of  the  members  of  the  Provincial  Board ;  the  appointment  of 
Henry  Edwards  Shawe  as  Secretary  of  Missions,  Badham,  how- 
ever, remaining  editor  of  Periodical  Accounts;  an  increase  in  the 
amounts  to  be  paid  as  pensions  to  those  superannuated  after 
faithful  service  in  the  church ;  measures  taken  for  the  furnishing 
of  parsonages ;  the  appropriation  of  an  annual  sum  from  Pro- 
vincial funds  in  aid  of  the  home  missions ;  the  clothing  of  Pro- 
vincial Elders'  Conference  with  powers  of  oversight  over  all  the 
church  schools  in  the  Province,  with  a  view  to  promote  uni- 
formity of  methods ;  plans  for  increasing  the  salaries  of  the 
teachers ;  the  appointment  of  the  new  Secretary  of  Missions  as 
editor  of  a  church  directory  and  Moravian  almanac,  hereafter 
to  be  issued  statedly;  the  creating  of  the  accountant  of  the 
Province  the  responsible  cashier  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference ;  and  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  coming  synod  were 
the  most  important  transactions. 

Finally  several  works  of  historical  importance  require  notice. 
In  1866  Bishop  Seifferth  issued  his  "Church  Constitution  of  the 
Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren."  This  was  the  Ratio  Disci- 
plinoe  of  Comenius  reprinted  in  the  original  Latin,  and  also  in 
a  translation  accompanied  with  valuable  historical  notes.  In 
1867  "Notes  on  the  Origin  and  Episcopate  of  the  Bohemian 
Brethren"  appeared  from  the  pen  of  Daniel  Benham,  Esq., 
whose  diligence  had  already  placed  the  church  under  obligation 
for  his  "The  Reformation  and  Anti-Reformation  in  Bohemia,"  a 
translation  of  Pescheck's  work,  in  1846;  "Memoirs  of  James 
Hutton,"  1856;  "School  of  Infancy"  and  "Life  of  Bishop  Come- 
nius," etc.,  1858;  and  "Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Jan  August  Miert- 
sching,"  etc.,  1854. 


446 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LV. 


THE  AMERICAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1857  TO  1869. 

Now  civil  war  laid  its  burden  of  distress  on  all  parts  of  the 
church.  The  Southern  Province  passed  through  "innumerable 
evils."  Its  resources  were  badly  crippled.  For  a  time  all  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  Unity  was  cut  off.  In  the 
North,  Graceham,  York  and  Lancaster  were  exposed  during  the 
invasion  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  summer  of  1863;  Minnesota 
learnt  the  terrors  of  Indian  warfare.  Everywhere  distress,  be- 
reavement, heavy  taxation,  privation  owing  to  the  rise  in  the 
cost  of  necessaries  of  life — all  the  accompaniments  of  war — 
became  sadly  familiar.  Yet  patriotic  loyalty  and  self-sacrifice 
ministered  to  a  deeper  sense  of  dependence  upon  God,  and 
appreciation  of  the  means  of  grace  became  a  marked  feature 
of  the  times. 

In  the  administrative  board  of  the  church  changes  took  place 
as  men  passed  from  the  noon-tide  to  the  evening  of  their  powers. 
Bishops  Jacobson  and  Peter  Wolle  and  Philip  H.  Goepp  re- 
mained in  office  until  1861,  when  the  board  was  reconstituted. 
Bishop  Jacobson  still  presiding,  with  Francis  F.  Hagen  and 
Sylvester  Wolle  as  his  associates.  The  synod  of  1867  charged 
with  the  general  oversight  Robert  de  Schweinitz,  Lewis  F. 
Kampmann  and  Sylvester  Wolle,  the  first  named  becoming 
President.  In  the  South,  Bishop  Bahnson,  with  Robert  de 
Schweinitz  and  Emil  A.  de  Schweinitz  (the  latter  cx-ofUcio)  had 
been  elected  Provincial  Elders  in  1857.  When  the  second  of 
these  removed  to  the  North,  in  1865,  his  place  was  taken  by 
Lewis  Rights. 

Special  importance  attaches  to  the  transactions  of  the  synod 
at  Bethlehem,  convened  on  June  2,  1858,  Bishop  Jacobson  pre- 
siding. A  Provincial  constitution  was  adopted  in  virtue  of  the 
powers  granted  by  the  general  synod  of  the  preceding  year, 
fundamental  to  which  were  government  by  a  Provincial  Synod 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


447 


meeting  triennially  and  constituted  of  the  ministers  in  active 
service  and  the  delegates  of  the  congregations,  and  the  admin- 
istration of  affairs  in  the  interval  by  a  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference, consisting  of  ministers  elected  by  and  responsible  to 
the  Provincial  Synod.  The  removal  of  the  theological  seminary 
from  Nazareth  to  Bethlehem  was  ordered,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  a  college  in  connection  therewith  planned.  The  reso- 
lutions of  the  synod  of  1856  with  regard  to  the  appointment  and 
powers  of  a  Board  of  Trustees,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the 
Provincial  Elders,  were  rescinded.  The  sum  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  the  greater  part  of  the  share  of  the  Northern  American 
Province  in  the  division  of  the  Unity's  funds,  was  devoted  to 
the  endowment  of  the  new  institution.  Synod  also  placed  the 
administration  of  the  home  missions  and  the  appointment  of  the 
missionaries  in  the  hands  of  a  "Home  Mission  Board,"  to  con- 
sist of  the  Provincial  Elders  and  eight  other  brethren  elected 
by  Synod,  three  of  whom  should  be  residents  of  Bethlehem, 
the  said  board  having  power  to  fill  vacancies  in  its  own  body. 
By  the  synod  of  1861,  at  Lititz,  a  further  change  was  made  in 
the  administration  of  home  missions.  The  Home  Mission 
Board  was  abolished,  and  the  management  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  Provincial  Elders  as  such,  the  various  home  missionary 
societies  of  the  individual  congregations,  however,  continuing 
their  activities. 

■  In  May,  1864,  the  synod  again  met  in  Bethlehem.  Now  all 
ordained  home  missionaries  were  placed  on  an  equality  with 
other  ministers  in  every  respect.  The  establishment  of  a  print- 
ing and  publishing  house  in  Bethlehem  was  authorized,  a 
measure  which  went  into  effect  in  January,  1866.  Synod  elected 
as  a  "Board  of  Visitors,"  advisory  to  the  Provincial  Elders' 
Conference  in  all  concerns  of  the  college  and  theological  semi- 
nary, Eugene  A.  Frueauff,  Francis  Jordan,  George  K.  Reed, 
J.  B.  Tschudy,  Jacob  Blickensderfer,  jr.,  C.  M.  S.  LesHe,  Augus- 
tus Wolle,  WiUiam  C.  Reichel  and  Bishop  Henry  A.  Shultz,  with 
power  to  add  tvv-o  others  to  their  number — in  the  event  Edmund 
de  Schweinitz  and  John  C.  Leibfried.  It  was  thereby  intended 
that  some  system  of  scholarships  should  be  devised,  and  that 
students  should  also  be  entered  as  non-gratidti.  The  founding 
of  a  church  school  for  boys  at  Chaska,  Minnesota,  was  recom- 
mended to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  Provincial  Elders' 
Conference.  ♦ 


448 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Lititz  was  the  scene  of  the  deliberations  of  synod  in  May, 
1867.  At  the  opening  Bishop  Jacobson  sought  permission  to 
retire  from  active  service.  He  had  held  various  appointments 
in  the  church  for  more  than  fifty  years.  Synod  by  formal  vote 
paid  a  tribute  to  his  prolonged  fidelity. 

Attention  was  drawn  to  the  need  of  closer  uniformity  in  ritual 
throughout  the  various  congregations.  The  reintroduction  of 
the  "Brotherly  Agreement''  in  a  revised  and  modernized  form 
as  a  bond  of  union  between  all  the  congregations  and  home 
missions  was  ordered. 

Primarily  the  synod  of  1868,  at  Bethlehem,  in  November,  was 
to  serve  as  preparatory  to  the  general  synod  of  1869.  For  a 
second  time  Bishop  Bigler  presided.  Synod  instructed  the  dele- 
gates to  ask  for  such  a  modification  of  the  church's  constitution 
as  would  empower  the  Northern  division  of  the  American  Prov- 
ince to  be  subdivided  into  Districts,  each  having  its  own  synod 
with  power  to  legislate  for  the  development  of  local  interests. 
Sanction  of  an  organic  union  with  the  Southern  division  of  the 
Province  was  to  be  sought.  In  regard  to  purely  internal  affairs, 
synod  defined  the  principles  in  acordance  with  which  the  re- 
vision of  the  church  hturgy  and  hymn-book  should  proceed. 

During  all  these  years,  in  spite  of  all  changes  and  notwith- 
standing the  progress  of  the  war  and  the  period  of  inflation  that 
followed,  the  home  missions  received  energetic  support.  In 
1857  organization  was  effected  in  Chaska,  Minnesota,  with  filials 
at  Haltmyer's  (later  Laketown)  and  Riidiger's  (later  Zoar).  Of 
this  work  Martin  Erdmann  was  in  charge.  On  November  8  in 
the  same  year  a  church  was  consecrated  at  Fry's  Valley,  Ohio, 
among  Swiss  settlers,  as  a  filial  of  Gnadenhiitten,  of  which  Henry 
C.  Bachman  was  pastor.  Next  year  a  commencement  was 
made  at  North  Salem,  Wisconsin,  by  Henry  A.  Shultz,  when  on 
an  official  visit.  Egg  Harbor,  New  Jersey,  begun  in  April,  1859, 
was  given  John  Christopher  Israel  as  pastor.  On  July  10  Cove- 
ville  (Canadensis)  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Jacobson, 
as  a  filial  of  Hopedale,  John  Praeger  being  the  pastor  in  charge. 
In  August,  Germans  of  New  Haven  and  Terryville,  Connecticut, 
having  petitioned  for  a  pastor.  Christian  Bentel  was  sent  to  the 
former  city  in  December.  But  in  April  he  was  appointed  chap- 
lain of  the  U.  S.  miHtary  hospital  in  New  Haven,  and  WiUiam 
Henry  Rice  of  Yale  Divinity  School  became  his  successor. 
Providence  lost  Leonard  Rau  by  dismissal  in  i860,  and  at  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


449 


end  of  the  year  the  work  here  was  given  up.  The  German  con- 
gregation in  Newark  in  the  same  3'ear  fully  reunited  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  its  pastor,  Giinther,  passed  with  it 
into  the  service  of  that  denomination.  Over  against  these  losses 
Mamre  was  begun  in  Wisconsin  and  Henderson  was  com- 
menced as  an  outpost  of  Chaska.  South  Bethlehem  was  organ- 
ized at  Christmas,  1862.  On  December  21,  1862,  a  church  was 
dedicated  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  but  in  April,  1864,  its  pastor, 
William  Geyer,  with  most  of  his  members  seceded  to  the  Luth- 
eran Church  and  the  property  was  taken  by  them.  Palmyra, 
New  Jersey,  obtained  recognition  as  a  home  mission  on  January 
I,  1864,  and  the  next  year  witnessed  an  addition  to  its  strength, 
through  the  organization  of  Riverside,  also  founded  by  PhiHp 
H.  Gapp.  In  August,  1864,  Watertown,  Wisconsin,  hitherto 
connected  with  Ebenezer,  was  constituted  a  distinct  charge 
under  JuHus  E.  Wuensche.  In  January,  1866,  Elizabeth,  New 
Jersey,  was  organized  and  received  Christian  Neu  as  its  pastor. 
On  June  10  Gracehill,  Iowa,  was  organized,  Louis  P.  Clewell 
taking  charge.  In  October  the  corner-stone  of  the  church  at 
Frankhn  and  Thompson  Streets,  Philadelphia,  was  laid.  It 
was  to  be  the  house  of  worship  for  the  second  Moravian  con- 
gregation in  this  city,  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  of  Herman  S. 
Hoffman,  supported  by  the  home  missionary  society  of  the 
First  Church,  at  Franklin  and  Wood  Streets.  The  dedication 
took  place  on  October  2,  1869.  In  the  year  1866  Freedom, 
Wisconsin,  was  organized  by  George  Frederick  Uecke.  Next 
year  Bethany,  near  Winona,  Minnesota,  was  begun  by  George 
Henry  Reusswig,  who  also  organized  Oakridge,  later  Hebron, 
in  1868.  In  April,  1868,  an  EngHsh  congregation  was  formed 
in  South  Bethlehem,  distinct  from  the  German,  the  former 
being  in  charge  of  Albert  Rondthaler,  the  latter  of  Henry  J. 
Van  Vleck.  In  September  a  third  enterprise  was  inaugurated 
in  Philadelphia,  at  Harrowgate,  a  northern  suburb,  and  placed 
in  charge  of  John  Nice.  In  March,  1869,  a  fourth  was  com- 
menced in  the  same  city,  the  "Bethlehem  Mission,"  in  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  city,  David  Mortimer  Warner  being 
specially  active  in  connection  with  the  Sunday-school  which 
constituted  the  chief  feature  of  the  work.  Finally  on  October 
31,  1869,  Harmony,  Iowa,  rejoiced  in  the  dedication  of  its 
church. 


30 


450 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Gradually  a  number  of  the  newer  enterprises  received  recog- 
nition from  the  Provincial  synod  as  self-supporting  congrega- 
tions entitled  to  a  voice  and  vote  in  synodical  legislation.  In 
1857  West  Salem,  having  been  divided  into  two  organizations, 
the  German  in  charge  of  Herman  Tietze  and  the  English  in 
charge  of  Martin  Hauser,  synod  in  1858  recognized  delegates 
from  each  as  clothed  with  full  powers.  At  the  same  time 
Ebenezer  and  Watertown  were  received  into  the  list  of  regular 
congregations  as  a  joint  charge.  Then  followed  Fry's  Valley 
in  1 861,  Utica  in  1864,  and  Philadelphia  Second  Church  and 
Lake  Mills  in  1868. 

Progress  could  also  be  noted  in  the  South,  although  the  awful 
experiences  of  the  war  for  a  time  put  a  check  to  aggressive 
religious  activity.  In  1865  a  mission  was  commenced  by  Isaac 
Prince  among  the  freedmen  at  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi ;  but 
circumstances  compelled  its  abandonment  in  the  autumn  of 
1866.  Next  year  the  erection  of  the  church  at  Kernersville 
marked  the  beginning  of  an  era  of  extension  in  the  vicinity  of 
Salem.  During  the  war  the  spacious  buildings  recently  erected 
for  Salem  Female  Academy  were  well  filled  with  pupils,  such 
confidence  was  placed  in  the  church  and  in  the  Principal,  Robert 
de  Schweinitz,  who  was  often  in  perplexity  to  make  adequate 
provision  for  those  committed  to  his  charge. 

In  the  North  the  educational  enterprises  widened  out.  Beth- 
lehem in  1858  erected  a  fine  large  edifice  for  its  parochial  school 
in  charge  of  x\mbrose  Rondthaler.  Next  year  a  seminary  for 
boys  was  begun  at  Hope,  Indiana,  with  John  H.  Kluge  as 
teacher,  which  gave  place  to  a  school  for  girls  with  Eugene  P. 
Greider  as  Principal — also  a  congregational  enterprise.  But  in 
November,  1866,  a  school  for  girls  was  opened  at  Hope  as  an 
undertaking  of  the  Northern  Province,  Francis  R.  Holland 
being  Principal.  Meantime,  in  November,  1864,  a  church 
school  for  boys  had  been  begun  at  Chaska,  Minnesota,  in 
charge  of  Anthony  Lehman  and  Charles  B.  Shultz. 

For  the  college  and  seminary  the  period  was  one  of  changes. 
In  1858  it  returned  to  Bethlehem,  its  home  during  the  years 
1838  to  1 85 1.  On  August  30  the  former  Van  Kirk  property 
was  dedicated  to  its  new  use,  Lewis  F.  Kampmann  being  Presi- 
dent and  Lewis  R.  Huebener  and  William  C.  Reichel  professors. 
Instruction  was  also  given  by  Bishops  Jacobson  and  WoUe  and 
by  Philip  H.  Goepp.    In  the  summer  of  1862,  Professor  Reichel 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


451 


having  accepted  a  call  to  take  charge  of  Linden  Hall,  William 
H.  Bigler  was  appointed  in  his  place.  The  invasion  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  1863  caused  an  interruption  of  studies,  Professors 
Huebener  and  Bigler  together  with  a  number  of  the  students 
enlisting.  In  October,  1864,  President  Kampmann  having  been 
appointed  to  the  Lititz  pastorate,  Professor  Huebener  was 
thereupon  appointed  Acting  President,  half  a  year  later  to  be 
confirmed  in  the  office.  Meantime  Hermann  A.  Brickenstein 
had  temporarily  taken  the  place  of  Resident  Professor.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1865,  Theophilus  Zorn  joined  the  faculty,  and  Edmund 
de  Schweinitz  commenced  to  lecture  on  the  History  of  the 
Moravian  Church,  Professor  Brickenstein  continuing  to  lecture 
on  Archaeology  and  Introduction  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and 
Dr.  A.  L.  Huebener  giving  instruction  in  German.  In  January, 
1866,  an  additional  professor  was  temporarily  secured,  Fred- 
erick Hark,  who  received  a  permanent  appointment  in  autumn, 
when  Professor  Brickenstein  and  Dr.  Huebener  discontinued 
their  work.  In  October  President  Huebener  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Bethlehem  congregation,  and  Gottlieb  F.  Oehler 
took  charge  of  the  administration  of  the  external  af¥airs  of  the 
institution  as  Steward,  Professor  Zorn  having  the  more  imme- 
diate oversight  of  the  students.  A  further  change  took  place 
in  July,  1867.  Now  Edmund  de  Schweinitz  became  President, 
whilst  retaining  his  pastoral  relationship  to  the  Bethlehem  con- 
gregation. Of  the  former  members  of  the  faculty  only  one 
remained,  Professor  Bigler.  The  vacancies  were  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  Charles  B.  Shultz,  Edwin  G.  Klose  and  subse- 
quently William  C.  Reichel.  The  members  of  the  new  faculty 
entered  upon  their  duties  in  September,  taking  the  pledge  of 
office  required  in  accordance  with  an  enactment  of  the  recent 
synod. 

Changes  also  characterized  the  church  publications.  In  De- 
cember, 1858,  the  Moravian  Bookstore  and  Publication  Con- 
cern was  removed  from  Philadelphia  to  Bethlehem,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1859,  Edwin  T.  Senseman  became  editor  of  the  Moravian. 
In  i860  the  editing  of  the  Bruder  Blatt  passed  from  C.  F.  Seidel 
to  Theophilus  Wunderling  and  John  C.  Brickenstein ;  but  for 
lack  of  support  this  periodical  ceased  to  be  issued  at  the  end 
of  the  year  1861.  In  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  synod 
of  1864  a  printing  and  publishing  establishment  was  commenced 
at  Bethlehem  in  January,  1866,  in  charge  of  Messrs.  A.  C.  and 


452 


A  HISTORY  OF 


H.  T.  Clauder,  and  in  April  a  new  attempt  was  made  to  found 
a  German  church-paper,  Der  Briider  Botschafter,  which  at  first 
appeared  fortnightly.  Soon  after  the  synod  of  1861  the  founder 
of  the  Moravian,  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  again  became  its  edi- 
tor. After  the  synod  of  1864  he  received  an  assistant  editor 
Hermann  A.  Brickenstein,  and  Sylvester  Wolle  served  as  finan- 
cial agent.  In  October,  1864,  both  the  editor  and  the  associate 
editor  removed  to  Bethlehem,  the  former  as  pastor  and  the 
latter  as  "Secretary  of  PubUcations,"  with  full  editorial  control. 

Nor  were  the  older  congregations  without  varied  experiences 
in  connection  with  their  activity.  Lebanon's  loss  of  its  church 
by  fire,  on  July  29,  1858,  during  the  pastorate  of  Theophilus 
Wunderling,  aroused  deep  sympathy.  Lititz,  under  the  lead 
of  William  Rauch  and  Francis  Christ,  forthwith  collected  the 
sum  of  $428  as  its  substantial  token  of  fraternal  interest,  and 
others  soon  followed  the  good  example.  The  new  edifice  was 
dedicated  on  June  5  and  6  in  the  following  year.  Similarly 
Ebenezer  lost  its  parsonage  by  fire  in  December,  1857,  J.  G. 
Kaltenbrunn  and  his  family  being  the  sufferers.  The  New 
York  congregation  held  its  last  service  in  its  church  at  Houston 
and  Mott  Streets  on  September  3,  1865,  and  entered  its  new 
home  at  Lexington  Avenue  and  Thirty-first  Street  on  April  18, 
1869,  Amadeus  A.  Reinke  being  pastor.  This  church  had 
hitherto  been  known  as  the  "Church  of  the  Mediator,"  and  had 
belonged  to  a  congregation  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
from  whom  it  was  acquired  by  purchase.  Bethlehem  remodeled 
its  old  historic  chapel  in  1865,  and  modernized  and  renovated 
its  large  church  in  1867.  York  dedicated  a  new  church  in  Octo- 
ber, 1868,  William  Henry  Rice  being  pastor.  Brooklyn  entered 
into  its  new  church  in  October,  1869,  Edward  Rondthaler  being 
in  charge. 

Thus  change  followed  change,  and  advance  was  achieved  in 
the  various  departments  of  activity. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


453 


CHAPTER  LVI. 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  FROM   1857  TO  1869. 

Provincial  independence  was  coupled  with  the  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  the  work  of  evangelization  amongst  the  heathen 
remains  one  of  the  strongest  bonds  linking  each  division  of 
the  Brethren's  Church  to  the  Unity  as  such.  More  complete 
occupation  of  existing  fields  and  the  extension  of  the  entire 
enterprise  were  proclaimed  to  be  the  definite  policy  of  the 
church. 

In  Greenland,  as  a  consequence  of  the  official  visit  paid  in 
1858  by  Ernest  Reichel  mission  stations  were  established  in 
succeeding  years  at  Umanak  on  an  island  up  the  fjord  from 
New  Herrnhut,  and  at  Igdlorpait  on  an  island  nine  miles  from 
Lichtenau. 

To  supply  the  requisite  native  assistants  two  normal  schools 
were  commenced  in  1866,  at  New  Herrnhut  by  Bindschedler 
and  at  Lichtenau  by  Kogel  and  Spindler. 

Labrador,  like  Greenland,  also  enjoyed  official  visits — that  of 
Levin  Theodore  Reichel  in  1861,  and  that  of  Charles  Linder 
in  1864  and  1865  in  the  interests  of  the  Society  for  the  Further- 
ance of  the  Gospel — and  had  also  its  attempts  at  extension.  In 
1864  a  spot  was  selected  to  the  south  of  Nain — to  be  known 
as  Zoar.  Here  Michael  Ernest  Beyer  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  new  mission,  and  hither  Augustus  Ferdinand  Eisner  and  wife 
moved  in  May,  1866.  It  afiforded  special  opportunity  to  exer- 
cise a  helpful  influence  over  European  and  half-caste  settlers. 
Although  previous  attempts  had  been  so  fruitless,  another 
exploratory  tour  was  undertaken  northwards.  Gottlob  and 
Daniel,  two  native  assistants,  stirred  by  the  news  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  John  King  in  Surinam^,  brought  the  gospel  to  their 
countrymen  as  far  as  Cape  Chudleigh  and  along  the  eastern 
shore  of  Ungava  Bay,  voyaging  in  a  sailing  vessel  of  their  own. 


454 


A  HISTORY  OF 


They  set  out  in  July,  1867,  and  during  the  following  winter 
returned  to  the  missionaries  to  report  the  welcome  tidings 
of  a  desire  for  a  "teacher."  Meantime  Saeglek,  a  point  north 
of  Hebron,  had  been  chosen  as  the  site  of  a  proposed  mission, 
and  a  rude  temporary  cabin  had  been  built.  But  then  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  sent  an  agent  thither,  and  to  avoid  disputes 
the  missionaries  withdrew.  Nachvak  Bay,  thirty  miles  farther 
to  the  north  was  next  chosen ;  again  the  trading  company  inter- 
posed. Now  Nullatatok  Bay  was  hit  upon ;  but  circumstances 
compelled  the  postponement  of  active  operations. 

The  winter  of  1862  to  1863  was  attended  with  great  mortality 
at  Hebron.  One  sixth  of  the  people  died.  The  sickness  was 
so  general  that  at  one  time  frozen  corpses  of  necessity  lay 
unburied  for  a  month.  During  the  following  winter  influenza 
and  erysipelas  proved  very  fatal  at  Okak,  Nain  and  Hopedale. 
These  visitations  led  to  the  establishment  of  an  orphanage  at 
Okak,  at  Easter,  1865,  in  accordance  with  plans  adopted  at  a 
general  mission  conference  convoked  some  time  before  at 
Nain.  Ten  of  the  most  destitute  Eskimo  waifs  were  gathered 
together  into  a  home  superintended  by  the  native  schoolmaster 
and  his  wife. 

The  West  Indies  had  enjoyed  the  influence  of  the  marked 
revivals  of  religion  in  America.  Thoughts  were  consequently 
turned  to  the  possibility  of  complete  self-support  on  the  part  of 
the  native  church.  Discussion  of  this  project  formed  one  of 
the  main  purposes  of  an  official  visit  paid  by  Bishop  Cunow 
and  the  Mission  Secretary,  Thomas  L.  Badham,  during  the 
years  1862  and  1863.  But  untoward  externals  interfered,  fre- 
quent and  wide-spread  droughts,  yellow  fever,  disastrous  tor- 
nados and  earthquakes.  The  civil  war  in  America  put  an  em- 
bargo upon  many  articles  of  commerce,  whilst  the  stagnation 
of  the  sugar  trade  deprived  many  of  their  means  of  livelihood. 
Emigration,  in  particular  to  Demerara,  set  in— notably  from 
Barbados.  This  unfavorable  change  is  clearly  disclosed  in 
the  contrast  presented  by  extracts  from  two  letters  written 
from  Barbados  by  John  Henry  Buchner  in  1858  and  1863. 
When  proceeding  to  assume  the  superintendence  of  the  mis- 
sion in  the  former  year,  he  thus  chronicles  his  first  impres- 
sions :  "On  Thursday  morning  the  steamer  brought  us  in  sight 
of  Barbados.  . .  .It  delights  the  eye  by  its  rich  cultivation.  The 
island  is  spread  out  like  a  garden,  with  its  cane  fields,  its  wind- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


455 


mills,  its  extensive  town  and  numerous  scattered  houses. 
When  we  arrived  the  harbor  was  very  lively,  many  vessels  were 
taking  in  their  cargoes,  and  boats  were  passing  in  all  direc- 
tions...  .When  we  landed  on  the  wharf,  the  crowd  at  work 
there,  and  the  large  number  of  sugar  hogsheads  waiting  to  be 
shipped,  at  once  gave  us  the  idea  that  we  had  come  to  a  stirring 
and  prosperous  place.... We  passed  numbers  of  gentlemen's 
houses,  many  of  them  with  prettily  laid  out  gardens,  and  pre- 
senting an  aspect  of  wealth  and  comfort.  The  road  was  very 
lively.  The  number  of  carriages  and  vehicles  of  every  descrip- 
tion, as  well  as  of  pedestrians,  would  have  reminded  us  of 
some  populous  district  in  England,  had  not  the  dark  complexion 
of  the  passers-by,  and  the  appearance  of  the  houses,  and  of 
many  natural  objects  convinced  us  that  we  were  in  the  West 
Indies."  Five  years  later  he  writes  :  "How  many  of  the  people 
of  this  island  still  live,  is  a  mystery  to  us.  Hundreds  have  no 
ostensible  means  of  getting  a  Hvelihood  at  all.  You  have  per- 
haps heard  that  thieves  and  vagabonds  have  been  going  about 
the  country  in  gangs  of  from  ten  to  twenty,  robbing  and  plun- 
dering, and  causing  not  a  little  alarm.  Now  that  most  of  them 
are  lodged  in  jail,  and  a  proper  watch  is  kept,  all  is  again  peace- 
ful and  quiet.  Of  course,  all  receipts  are  falling  oflf,  especially 
the  school-fees  and  the  subscriptions  to  the  Missionary  associa- 
tions. But  this  is  not  what  distresses  us  most ;  the  church  is 
not  so  well  attended  as  formerly,  and  the  schools  are  half 
empty.  This  is  simply  because  adults  and  children  have  no 
clothes  but  rags,  in  which  they  can  not  show  themselves.  This 
is  a  state  of  things  which  is  beyond  our  power  to  remedy.  . .  .It 
is  a  sad,  sad  tale  which  I  have  to  tell.  The  distress  here  is  fear- 
ful;  and  it  is  not  a  passing  depression,  likely  to  continue  but 
for  a  short  time ;  it  is  a  crisis  which  will  require  years  to 
develop  its  results,  and  which  will,  I  fear,  entail  severe  suffering 
on  all  classes." 

After  having  personally  inspected  the  operations  on  all  the 
various  islands,  Cunow  and  Badham  convoked  a  general  con- 
ference at  St.  Thomas  in  June,  1863.  It  was  a  gathering  that 
marked  a  new  epoch.  The  visitants  embodied  the  results  of 
their  observations  in  the  form  of  proposals  to  be  now  acted 
upon,  and  after  endorsement  to  be  laid  before  the  Mission 
Board  as  the  basis  for  the  new  methods  of  operation.  Self- 
support,  native  agency,  local  management  and  education  were 


456 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  chief  points  involved.  Conditions  that  varied  not  only  as 
between  island  and  island  but  also  as  between  the  stations  in  a 
given  sub-division  of  the  field — diflferences  in  regard  to  tem- 
poral prosperity,  social  advancement,  mental  culture  and  Chris- 
tian experience — rendered  very  difficult  the  formulation  of  gen- 
eral principles  universally  applicable.  Whilst  the  justice  and 
ultimate  necessity  of  attaining  self-support  were  fully  recog- 
nized by  all,  practical  obstacles  were  often  in  the  way,  and  could 
not  be  ignored.  Jamaica  promised  to  attempt  it,  except  that 
the  outlay  for  buildings  and  for  the  journeys  of  missionaries 
would  still  have  to  be  met  from  the  general  mission  treasury. 
The  Danish  islands  together  with  St.  Kitts  and  Tobago,  ex- 
pressed a  willingness  to  rely  upon  a  gradually  decreasing  grant 
for  a  decade,  in  the  hope  that  during  the  interval  local  resources 
might  attain  a  sufficient  development.  Antigua  and  Barbados, 
while  acquiescing  in  the  principle  of  self-support,  and  hoping 
later  to  make  theory  and  practice  equal,  found  present  hind- 
rances insuperable.  With  regard  to  native  agency,  although  a 
commencement  had  been  made,  and  although  of  the  687  native 
assistants  and  of  the  122  school-masters  many  had  rendered 
and  were  rendering  efficient  help  as  exhorters  and  evangelists, 
it  was  felt  that  the  church  must  proceed  with  circumspection 
in  appointing  native  pastors.  Meantime  the  meetings  of  the 
"helpers"  were  to  be  developed  into  something  resembling  the 
sessions  of  congregation  committees  and  conferences  at  home. 
The  school  system  was  to  be  carefully  fostered,  and  an  approach 
to  uniformity  of  method  attempted  through  the  work  of  the 
four  normal  schools — a  fourth  having  been  commenced  in  1861 
at  Bethabara  in  Jamaica  for  female  teachers.  At  the  same  time 
eagerness  to  advance  did  not  shut  out  of  view  a  recognition  of 
the  danger  of  raising  the  standard  of  the  mission-schools  far 
above  the  real  requirements  of  the  people. 

But  the  happy  anticipations  aroused  by  the  brave  plans  of 
the  general  conference  were  rudely  interrupted.  In  1866 
cholera  and  yellow  fever  entered  St.  Thomas.  By  January  23, 
1867,  860  deaths  had  been  recorded  in  the  city  alone.  Sea  cap- 
tains began  to  avoid  the  port  as  a  pest  hole.  Doctors  and  mis- 
sionaries and  volunteer  nurses  stood  bravely  at  their  posts,  and 
the  pestilence  was  subdued.  But  on  October  29  a  terrific  hurri- 
cane passed  over  the  Danish  islands.  Shingles  and  planks  flew 
through  the  air.    Then  the  cabins  of  the  natives  gave  way.  At 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


457 


length  the  very  finest  buildings  were  rent  and  cracked.  In  the 
town  more  than  three  hundred  lives  were  lost.  Seventy-seven 
vessels  were  wrecked.  The  fine  new  church  at  Nisky  was  in 
ruins,  and  the  other  houses  were  partly  destroyed.  Not  a  sta- 
tion on  St.  Thomas  or  St.  John  but  had  been  seriously  damaged. 
The  fields  were  devastated,  and  the  groves  and  woods  were 
choked  with  wreckage.  Then  just  before  three  o'clock  on  the 
afternoon  of  November  i8  a  terrible  earthquake  visited  the 
devoted  island.  Shock  followed  shock.  A  huge  tidal  wave 
with  an  awful  roar  carried  the  sea  far  inland,  and  after  dashing 
on  shore  vessels  of  every  size  and  sort,  receded,  leaving  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  perfectly  bare  and  exposing  sunken  wrecks 
for  about  three  hundred  yards.  Three  times  the  terrifying 
experience  was  repeated.  Royal  mail  steamers  went  down  with 
their  valuable  cargoes  and  precious  freightage  of  human  lives. 
The  wharves  and  warehouses  along  the  shore  were  laid  waste. 
Tremendous  damage  was  done  to  property.  Providentially  the 
Moravian  church  still  stood  amidst  hundreds  of  ruined  houses. 
More  damage  was  done  to  mission  property  elsewhere,  the 
losses  being  estimated  from  $10,000  to  $15,000.  The  mission 
school  at  Friedensberg,  St.  Croix,  was  turned  into  a  hospital 
for  the  disabled  seamen  of  the  United  States  frigate  Monon- 
gahela,  which  had  been  carried  ashore,  and  left  high  and  dry. 
For  six  weeks  following  shocks  recurred  daily  with  few  excep- 
tions. The  sullen  rumblings  were  an  ever  repeated  reminder 
that  at  any  moment  the  seismic  disturbances  might  increase  in 
intensity.  Many  people  fled  from  the  towns  to  the  hills  and 
open  country.  Not  until  the  following  February  was  it  con- 
sidered safe  to  renew  public  worship  in  the  town  of  St.  Thomas. 
That  these  calamities  called  forth  the  active  benevolence  of  the 
membership  at  home  goes  with  the  saying.  A  large  legacy 
received  through  the  agency  of  the  London  Association  proved 
a  godsend  in  the  emergency. 

Meantime  memorable  things  were  transpiring  in  Jamaica. 
In  August,  1858,  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  inquiry  appeared  in  the 
normal  school  at  Fairfield,  now  in  charge  of  Sondermann  and 
Prince,  and  before  long  spread  through  the  congregations,  until 
it  culminated  in  a  manifest  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
i860,  especially  at  Carmel,  Fulneck  and  Fairfield.  Whilst 
strange  phenomena — fits  of  trembling  or  temporary  loss  of 
speech — bore  testimony  to  the  emotional  nature  of  the  race  and 


458 


A  HISTORY  OF 


pointed  to  the  close  connection  between  the  psychical  and  the 
physical,  the  most  striking  features  of  this  experience  were  the 
deep  sense  of  sin  and  utter  want  of  comfort  and  peace  until 
assurance  of  pardon  through  the  grace  of  an  atoning  Saviour 
found  entrance  into  hearts.  Then  the  fruits  of  faith  became 
very  evident.  Churches  and  schools  were  crowded,  contribu- 
tions became  liberal,  the  demand  for  Bibles  and  devotional 
works  enlarged,  the  sacredness  of  Christian  marriage  received 
wider  recognition,  and  additions  to  the  churches  multiplied. 
Ere  long  all  the  mission  congregations  on  the  island  shared  in 
the  happy  experience.  The  demand  for  Bibles  especially  be- 
came so  large  that  it  could  scarcely  be  met.  The  Westmore- 
land Bible  Society  alone  issued  about  two  thousand  copies. 

Early  in  the  following  year  the  work  at  New  Hope,  on  ac- 
count of  its  low  and  swampy  site,  was  removed  to  an  estate 
which  had  been  purchased  by  Alfred  B.  Lind,  henceforth  known 
as  Salem,  where  he  encouraged  the  blacks  to-  colonize  and 
themselves  become  independent  planters  on  a  small  scale.  In 
1865  Mizpah  was  also  founded  between  Bethabara  and  Bethany. 

Meanwhile  the  vacancy  in  the  Mission  Board  caused  by  the 
death  of  Bishop  Wullschlaegel  in  March,  1863,  had  deprived 
Jamaica  of  the  services  of  Augustus  Clemens.  In  his  place 
Abraham  Lichtenthaeler  became  superintendent. 

On  the  neighboring  Moskito  Coast  the  missionaries  were 
now  slowly  counteracting  the  nomadic  tendencies  of  the  In- 
dians, and  village-life  was  being  successfully  introduced.  Hopes 
could  be  entertained  that  in  time  the  scope  of  the  work  would 
be  coextensive  with  the  territory.  At  Rama  and  at  Reitapura 
(Brown  Bank)  churches  had  been  built,  and  in  Bluefields  the 
congregation  was  growing  in  numbers  and  in  influence.  Special 
assistance  had  been  afforded  by  the  gift  of  a  small  schooner, 
"TJie  Messenger  of  Peace,"  presented  by  friends  at  Zeist  in  1858. 

The  year  i860  was  signalized  by  an  official  visit  on  the  part 
of  Bishop  Westerby  of  Antigua,  commissioned  by  the  Board. 
At  Rama  Key  he  especially  noted  the  decided  change  for  the 
better.  The  people  were  no  longer  wretched  savages.  Now 
decently  clad  and  contented  and  happy  they  were  living  in  neat 
cottages,  roughly  built  indeed,  and  thatched  only  with  palm 
leaves  and  having  floors  of  clay,  but  clean  and  divided  into  sepa- 
rate rooms  that  made  some  provision  for  privacy.  In  October 
of  the  same  year  the  fruits  of  former  visits  up  the  coast 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


459 


appeared  in  the  founding  of  Ephrata  at  Wounta  Hallover,  not 
far  from  Cape  Gracias  a  Dios.  Here  Kandler  was  stationed. 
The  situation  required  a  man  of  courage,  tact  and  ability. 
White  men,  mahogany-cutters  from  Belize,  were  bringing  in 
liquors,  and  drunkenness  and  brawling  were  distressingly  fre- 
quent. In  addition  to  this  new  undertaking,  on  Corn  Island, 
directly  east  from  Magdala,  Jacob  Jonathan  Hoch  began  Joppa 
amongst  a  purely  negro  population. 

Early  in  this  same  year  the  political  status  of  the  coast  had 
been  readjusted.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Managua 
Britain,  having  already  in  1850  resigned  all  claims  to  ownership 
in  the  stipulations  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  ceded  her  pro- 
tectorate to  Nicaragua.  "The  local  chief  was  induced  to  accept 
the  arrangement  on  the  condition  of  retaining  his  administra- 
tive functions  and  receiving  a  yearly  subvention  of  $5,000  from 
the  suzerain  state  for  the  ten  years  ending  in  1870.  But  he 
died  in  1864,  and  Nicaragua  never  recognized  his  successor. 
Nevertheless  the  reserve  continued  to  be  ruled  by  a  chief  elected 
by  the  natives  and  assisted  by  an  administrative  council  which 
assembled  at  Bluefields."  For  the  present  the  Indians  asserted 
a  quasi-independence  under  Chief  George  William. 

Now  the  mission  at  Magdala  especially  prospered.  Grune- 
wald's  normal  school  was  removed  thither  from  Bluefields. 
The  outposts  on  the  peninsula  east  of  Pearl  lagoon  gained  in 
every  way,  so  that  in  1864  Tasbapauni  (Red  Bank)  could  be 
developed  into  an  independent  station,  Bethania.  Here  Peter 
Blair,  a  native  of  Jamaica,  was  given  charge. 

But  this  mission  also  had  its  trials.  On  the  night  of  October 
18,  1865,  a  terrible  hurricane  swept  the  coast.  At  Bluefields 
only  eight  houses  remained,  and  they  half-ruined.  Of  these 
eight  the  mission-house  was  one.  Church,  school,  kitchen, 
teacher's  residence  and  the  boat-house  were  leveled.  The 
second  "Messenger  of  Peace" — a  gift  from  England — lay  on  her 
beam  ends,  badly  damaged.  At  Ramah  only  three  houses  re- 
mained besides  the  church  and  mission-house,  and  these  had 
lost  their  roofs.  At  Magdala  the  home  of  the  missionary  was 
shattered  to  pieces.  Bethania  had  been  carried  away  by  a  tidal 
wave,  and  Blair  had  difficulty  in  escaping  by  boat.  Only  one 
solitary  post  showed  where  the  station  had  stood.  At  Joppa 
Hoch  and  his  family  for  weeks  had  no  other  shelter  than  the 
displaced  roof  of  the  church,  which  kept  its  shape  when  it  fell 


460 


A  HISTORY  OF 


from  the  walls.  The  destruction  of  the  cocoanut  palms  and 
the  devastation  of  the  provision  grounds  rendered  starvation 
a  possibility.  Discontinuance  of  the  mission  was  under  con- 
sideration. But  deep  sympathy  was  aroused  in  the  home  con- 
gregations, and  liberal  gifts  came  in.  Bluefields  church  could 
be  anew  consecrated  in  July,  1867,  and  Ephrata  in  August,  1868. 
The  development  of  the  India  rubber  industry  provided  the 
people  with  a  new  source  of  income.  A  third  "Messenger  of 
Peace"  was  supplied  by  the  young  people  in  i\merica,  stirred 
by  the  appeals  of  Amandeus  A.  Reinke,  the  former  pioneer. 
Lundberg  was  now  superintendent. 

Surinam  progressed  meanwhile  under  the  wise  and  energetic 
leadership  of  Van  Calker.  New  stations  were  commenced — 
Beersheba  in  1858  at  the  edge  of  a  savannah  near  La  Prosperite 
Estate,  for  the  Para  district,  and  Waterloo  in  the  Nickerie  dis- 
trict and  Clevia  on  the  Lower  Surinam  near  its  confluence  with 
the  Comewyne,  in  1859.  In  the  Bush  Country  on  the  Upper 
Surinam,  a  spirit  of  inquiry  was  spreading,  and  the  labors  of 
Gottlieb,  the  native  assistant  at  Gansee,  and  of  his  two  coad- 
jutors bore  fruit  in  the  application  of  forty  of  their  countrymen 
for  baptism,  by  August,  1861.  By  the  providence  of  God  a 
very  remarkable  movement  was  also  in  its  incipiency. 

About  the  end  of  the  year  1857  a  stranger  made  his  appear- 
ance in  Paramaribo,  declaring  that  God  had  warned  him  through 
dreams  to  come  hither  and  seek  the  truth.  He  was  a  heathen 
Bush-negro,  of  the  IMatuari  tribe,  John  King  by  name.  His 
mother  had  formerly  lived  in  town,  but  after  the  death  of  her 
parents  the  family  had  removed  to  the  Saramacca  district,  and 
had  lapsed  into  utter  heathenism.  Up  to  manhood  John  King 
had  been  little  better  than  his  fellows.  Like  them  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  the  ancestral  fetish  worship  of  Africa,  was  hard- 
ened to  the  debauchery  and  immoralities  and  cruelties  of 
heathenism,  thought  little  of  the  frequently  occurring  fights 
with  poisoned  iron  rings,  was  familiar  with  the  "winti"  dance  and 
alleged  witchcraft,  dreaded  the  power  of  the  evil  eye,  and 
trembled  at  the  sight  of  an  old  rag  fluttering  in  a  cleft  stick  that 
had  been  planted  as  "medicine"  before  the  door  oi  a  hut.  But 
now  be  wished  to  follow  the  light  that  had  been  given  to  him  in 
dreams.  "In  the  first  of  these  he  saw  a  large,  light  and  beauti- 
ful house,  full  of  people  clothed  in  white  garments  who  were 
heard  singing  so  delightfully,  that  he  had  never  heard  the  like. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


461 


Then  he  saw  a  dismal  building  like  a  jail,  in  the  courtyard  of 
which  an  enormous  fire  was  blazing.  As  he  approached  the  fire 
the  flame  leaped  up  and  touching  him  caused  him  indescriable 
torment.  Near  it  he  beheld  vessels  as  large  as  those  in  the 
boiling  house  of  a  sugar  plantation,  in  which  he  was  told  wicked 
people  were  tormented  in  burning  oil.  In  the  house  itself  he  to 
his  terror  caught  sight  of  the  dark  form  of  the  evil  spirit.  A 
person  who  showed  him  these  objects  then  desired  him  to  go  and 
tell  his  people  what  he  had  seen  and  what  was  the  lot  of  the 
damned.  With  the  horrible  feeling  that  he  himself  belonged  to 
this  number,  King  followed  his  guide  to  a  river,  into  which  he 
sprang — and  awoke.  When  restored  to  consciousness,  he  was 
almost  beside  himself  with  terror,  trembled  from  head  to 
foot,  and  was  for  some  time  unable  to  rise  from  his 
bed.  Not  until  evening  did  he  regain  sufficient  composure 
to  relate  his  dream  to  those  around  him.  What  he 
stated  filled  his  hearers  with  horror.  A  week  later 
he  dreamed  that  he  was  in  a  church  at  the  door  of 
which  a  man  was  standing  who  said,  'King,  do  you  know  what 
you  ought  to  do?  You  must  have  your  name  set  down  at  the 
church,  for  if  you  abide  by  what  the  heathen  say,  you  will  be 
lost  for  ever.'  "  These  experiences  had  led  him  to  Paramaribo 
as  a  sincere  inquirer  after  the  truth.  Here  he  proved  a  man  of 
singular  capacity  and  endowments — sincere,  energetic,  desirous 
to  learn,  gifted  and  diligent  in  study  and  in  work.  On  August 
II,  1861,  he  was  baptized  in  Paramaribo,  receiving  the  name  of 
John.  Returning  to  his  village  of  Maripastoon,  on  the  Sara- 
macca  in  the  dense  forests  four  days'  journey  beyond  Gansee, 
he  forthwith  commenced  to  labor  as  an  evangelist  amongst  his 
people,  with  the  fervor  of  one  possessed  of  the  conviction  of 
a  direct  call  from  God.  The  results  enforced  his  belief. 
Before  long  his  near  relative,  Adrai,  the  local  chief,  sought  bap- 
tism and  took  the  name  of  Noah.  The  conflict  was  protracted 
and  sometimes  bitter,  King's  life  being  threatened.  But  he 
destroyed  the  rude  temples,  and  threw  the  broken  idols  into  the 
river;  and  in  October,  1865,  Kalkoen,  the  aged  supreme  chief  of 
the  Matuaris,  through  his  ministrations  and  those  of  another 
native  evangelist,  Manasseh,  could  be  baptized  by  Drexler, 
choosing  for  himself  the  name  of  Joshua. 

John  King's  career  now  became  one  of  peculiar  interest. 
Long  journeys  were  undertaken  by  him  in  all  parts  of  Surinam, 


462 


A  HISTORY  OF 


up  sluggish  and  fever-breeding  streams,  through  the  dense 
jungles  where  white  men  could  not  have  lived.  With  an  utter 
abandon  of  fearlessness  he  braved  the  "li'intr  men,  and  exposed 
their  folHes  and  deceptions.  And  though  these  blind  leaders  of 
the  blind,  enraged  at  the  prospect  of  losing  their  occupation, 
conspired  against  him,  he  passed  unscathed,  their  poison  fail- 
ing to  reach  him.  Once  indeed  even  he  fell  a  victim  to  fever ; 
but  the  prayers  of  the  brethren  were  heard  for  his  recovery. 
Related  by  birth  to  the  Aukas  (or  Djukas)  as  well  as  to  the 
Matuaris,  he  undertook  an  expedition  to  them  also,  and  pro- 
posed to  guide  the  Brethren  Bramberg  and  Lehman  to  their 
distant  villages.  But  before  the  missionaries  crossed  the 
boundary  of  the  colony  proper,  armed  men  presented  a  hostile 
front,  and  a  reluctant  return  was  the  sole  resource.  By  this 
time  at  Coffycamp,  Gansee,  Goejaba  and  ^Maripastoon,  about 
eight  hundred  Bush-negroes  had  been  enrolled  in  the  member- 
ship of  the  church. 

Meantime  momentous  events  had  been  transpiring.  On 
July  I,  1863,  by  royal  proclamation  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  became  an  accomplished  fact  throughout  Surinam. 
According  to  the  terms  of  the  edict  a  ten  years'  apprentice- 
ship was  first  provided  for,  the  choice  of  masters  being  volun- 
tary, and  the  contracts  being  subject  to  governmental  supervi- 
sion. Furthermore  each  ex-slave  was  required  to  declare  him- 
self either  a  Christian  or  a  Jew  in  faith  to  be  entitled  to  be  bene- 
fits of  royal  favor.  About  two-thirds  of  the  entire  slave  popula- 
tion had  already  been  in  connection  with  the  Moravian  Church. 
Hence  this  wide-reaching  measure  specially  concerned  the 
mission.  The  removal  of  the  hindrances  inherent  in  slavery 
was  a  source  of  hearty  joy  to  the  missionaries.  Yet  it  was 
impossible  that  all  the  consequences  of  slavery  could  be  at  onoe 
eradicated.  The  immorality  and  the  utterly  lax  ethical  concep- 
tions instilled  into  the  slave  race  must  be  a  source  of  trouble 
for  a  generation  at  least.  Marriage  of  slaves  hitherto  received 
no  legal  recognition.  Even  now  the  requirement  that  a  civil 
contract  be  entered  into  before  a  magistrate  if  a  marriage  were 
to  become  valid — a  regulation  involving  considerable  expendi- 
ture of  money — drove  only  too  many  of  the  ex-slaves  into  con- 
nections resembling  concubinage  rather  than  wedlock. 

To  counteract  the  heritage  of  the  past,  special  attention  was 
now  paid  to  the  schools.  Sixteen  of  these  were  being  carried  on 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


463 


by  the  mission,  with  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  scholars.  To  develop  the  normal  school,  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  capital  in  1866.  In  general,  sudden  expansion  in 
the  number  of  the  adherents  of  the  mission  was  a  result  of 
emancipation.  In  the  city  the  membership  had  grown  to  more 
than  six  thousand;  in  the  entire  colony  it  reached  a  total  ot 
24,330  by  the  year  1869.  Discipline  naturally  suffered  in  conse- 
quence, but  the  missionaries  kept  the  old  standard  in  view. 

Of  the  South  African  congregations  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  present  period  it  could  be  said  in  apostolic  language,  "Then 
had  the  churches  rest,  and  were  edified ;  and  walking  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  multi- 
plied." Yet  at  the  beginning  it  seemed  as  though  the  condi- 
tions necessary  to  external  peace  would  be  wanting.  Already 
in  1856  the  failure  of  the  attempt  to  secure  the  loyalty  of  the 
Kaffir  chiefs  by  the  payment  of  salaries  in  return  for  the  sur- 
render of  certain  of  their  rights,  became  evident.  A  would-be 
prophet  who  possessed  influence  with  chief  Sandili,  aroused  a 
wave  of  wild  fanaticism  amongst  his  people  by  pretending  that 
if  they  would  follow  his  suggestions  they  should  secure  the  aid 
of  their  departed  ancestors  in  a  war  of  extermination  against 
the  colonists.  The  peculiar  test  to  which  he  put  their  faith, 
was  the  requirement,  that  they  should  unhesitatingly  slay  their 
cattle.  This  act  of  self-sacrifice  complete,  he  bade  them  await 
the  appearance  of  two  blood-red  suns  as  the  heaven-sent  sign 
for  the  promised  success  and  vengeance.  But  the  omen  failed 
to  appear,  though  the  people  obeyed  his  injunction  literally. 
Gaunt  famine  stalked  through  KafTraria.  Swarms  of  despairing 
beggars  streamed  into  the  colony  and  pitifully  pleaded  for  food. 
This  was  the  only  army  evolved  by  the  delusion.  In  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  country  the  population  was  reduced  to  almost 
one-third.  Hundreds  clamored  for  alms  at  the  mission  sta- 
tions. Shiloh,  for  example,  received  a  permanent  influx  of 
three  hundred  of  these  poor  deluded  refugees.  The  mission- 
aries devised  all  manner  of  labor  that  they  might  not  be 
degraded  by  acknowledged  pauperization.  Warriors  distin- 
guished for  former  prowess  might  be  seen  roaming  through  the 
forests  for  firewood ;  others  cut  pliant  osiers  and  wove  them 
into  baskets ;  others  shouldered  pick  and  shovel  for  the  un- 
wonted labor  of  ditching  and  draining.  One  result  of  these 
experiences  was  the  founding  of  a  new  station,  Engotini,  six 


464 


A  HISTORY  OF 


miles  distant  on  the  Engoti,  a  tributary  of  the  Oxkraal,  begun 
by  Henry  Meyer,  who  had  come  to  Africa  in  1854.  Under  his 
energetic  leadership  rapid  progress  was  made. 

Meanwhile  another  extension  of  operations  was  to  be  noted 
in  quite  a  different  quarter,  the  Ficketberg  range  near  St. 
Helena  Bay,  eighty  or  ninety  miles  north  of  Cape  Town.  Since 
1846  the  little  valley  of  Goedverwacht  had  enjoyed  the  services 
of  a  native  teacher  trained  at  Genadendal,  Joshua  Hardenberg. 
By  the  year  1858  the  work  had  assumed  such  proportions  that 
the  estabHshment  of  a  regular  station  seemed  imperative.  But 
the  peculiar  history  of  Goedverwacht  precluded  the  formation 
of  the  station  at  the  place  itself.  In  the  year  1810  a  Dutch 
farmer,  Buergers  by  name,  had  purchased  nine  hundred  acres 
of  fertile  valley  in  the  Picketberg,  and  in  time  rendered  his 
estate  a  garden  spot  through  the  well  directed  labor  of  his  Hot- 
tentot slaves.  Here  he  lived  in  comfort  until  disturbed  by 
rumors  of  impending  emancipation.  To  keep  his  slaves  about 
him  in  this  emergency,  he  selected  six  of  the  most  inteUigent 
and  faithful,  and  made  an  extraordinary  proposal  to  them.  If 
they  solemnly  covenanted  to  faithfully  serve  and  care  for  him 
so  long  as  he  lived,  he  would  bequeath  his  entire  property  to 
them.  They  readily  agreed.  He  therefore  drew  up  his  last 
testament,  bequeathing  his  land  to  the  six  jointly,  with  the  pro- 
viso that  it  should  not  be  sold  until  the  death  of  the  last  of  the 
six.  Emancipation  came  on  December  i,  1834.  They  re- 
mained true  to  their  pledge.  Mr.  Buergers  himself  died  in 
1843,  and  the  once  despised  Hottentots  became  the  joint  owners 
of  a  fine  piece  of  property.  Hither  their  relatives  gradually 
removed,  till  there  arose  a  village  of  about  five  hundred  souls. 
It  was  in  response  to  a  request  made  by  these  people  that  the 
church  sent  a  teacher  to  them  in  1846.  But  the  uncertainty  of 
the  tenure  of  the  land,  contingent  as  it  was  upon  the  lives  of  the 
six  ex-slaves,  suggested  the  purchase  by  the  mission  of  the 
neighboring  farm  of  Wittewater  as  the  actual  site  of  the  station, 
Goedverwacht  being  served  in  conjunction  with  it. 

Two  deaths  saddened  the  friends  of  the  African  mission,  that 
of  Daniel  Suhl,  the  principal  of  the  normal  school,  on  April  30, 
1858,  and  that  of  Charles  Rudolph  Kolbing,  the  superintendent 
of  the  mission,  on  December  28,  i860.  Both  had  rendered 
valuable  services ;  and  the  former  left  the  school  in  such  a  con- 
dition that  the  enlargement  of  its  accommodations  was  a  neces- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


465 


sity.  Three  of  its  graduates  were  now  serving  as  assistant  mis- 
sionaries ;  fifteen  were  filling  posts  as  teachers  in  schools  of 
their  own  and  sixteen  in  schools  of  sister  churches.  Benno 
Marx  succeeded  to  the  vacant  office.  Now  special  attention 
was  paid  to  the  operation  of  a  printing  press  by  the  students. 
De  Bode,  a  missionary  periodical  in  the  Dutch  language,  and 
De  Kinder  Vriend,  for  children,  were  issued  at  stated  intervals ; 
and  a  commencement  was  made  in  1861  with  the  pubHcation 
of  parts  of  the  Hermony  of  the  Gospels,  translated  into  the 
Kaffir  tongue.  Frederick  William  Kiihn  received  the  oversight 
of  the  mission  as  a  whole,  to  be  succeeded  in  his  turn  by  Ferdi- 
nand Bechler  in  1865,  when  elected  a  member  of  the  Mission 
Board  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Bishop  Cunow. 

Meantime  an  advance  was  made  into  Kaflfraria,  at  the  request 
of  government.  John  Henry  Hartmann  and  Richard  Baur 
advanced  by  ox-wagon  into  the  Tambookie  country  eight  or 
nine  days  from  Shiloh,  and  found  at  Baziya  a  spot  suitable  for 
the  commencement  of  a  mission  in  the  land  of  Chief  Joyi,  which 
Baur  and  his  wife  proceeded  to  occupy.  The  gradual  advance 
into  heathen  Kafifraria  lent  special  importance  to  a  conference 
of  missionaries  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  eastern  group  of 
stations,  held  at  Shiloh  from  February  18  to  20,  1863 — a  first 
step  in  the  direction  of  separation  into  a  distinct  missionary 
province. 

But  in  1863  a  sudden  calamity  gave  a  temporary  check  to  the 
work  in  KafTraria.  Hitherto  South  Africa  had  been  remark- 
ably free  from  tornadoes,  so  far  as  the  experience  of  the  mis- 
sionaries was  concerned.  Towards  sunset  on  the  evening  of 
September  28  a  cyclone  struck  Baziya  without  any  warning. 
In  a  few  seconds  the  mission-house  was  completely  destroyed. 
But  miraculously  Baur  and  his  family  crept  from  the  ruins  un- 
hurt, save  for  minor  bruises.  Parts  of  the  house  were  found  a 
mile  away.  The  missionary's  wagon  had  been  broken  in  two 
and  one  half  carried  one  hundred  yards.  Other  articles  were 
found  two  to  three  miles  away.  A  temporary  refuge  was 
secured  at  the  home  of  Mr.  Gordon,  the  AngHcan  missionary 
at  All  Saints',  about  half  a  day's  journey  distant,  until  Baziya 
could  again  be  made  habitable. 

The  year  1867  finally  marked  an  involuntary  withdrawal  from 
a  sphere  of  activity.  With  the  retirement  of  Kiister  and  his 
wife  from  missionary  service  the  care  of  the  hospital  for  lepers 
31 


466 


A  HISTORY  OF 


on  Robben  Island,  their  latest  charge,  at  the  desire  of  govern- 
ment passed  from  the  Moravian  to  the  Anglican  Church.  Thus 
the  forty-five  years"  ministration  to  these  poor  sufferers  in 
Africa  came  to  an  end.  All  the  more  opportune,  therefore, 
was  the  overture  received  about  this  time  from  Baroness 
Kefifenbrink-Ascheraden  in  respect  to  the  founding  of  a  similar 
institution  at  Jerusalem. 

Long  ago  it  has  been  said  that  "failures  are  with  heroic  minds 
stepping-stones  to  success."  This  was  exemplified  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mission  in  Australia.  In  May,  1858,  Moravian 
missionaries  were  again  at  IMelbourne,  Spieseke,  who  had  pro- 
tested against  the  former  retreat,  being  accompanied  by  Fred- 
erick Augustus  Hagenauer.  Sir  Henry  Barkly,  the  new  Gover- 
nor, and  the  Bishop  of  IMelbourne  lent  their  support.  It  was 
proposed  by  the  former  that  the  missionaries  should  now  begin 
operations  in  the  Wimmera  District,  a  fairly  watered  tract  and 
unlikely  to  become  the  scene  of  serious  difificulties'  with  the 
colonists.  In  accordance  with  this  advice  a  site  was  fixed  upon 
near  Antwerp,  a  station  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Ellerman,  who  gave 
the  mission  a  section  of  his  land  and  manifested  continuous 
sympathy  with  the  undertaking.  The  new  mission  received  the 
name  of  Ebenezer.  For  a  considerable  time  the  only  hopeful 
sign  was  the  willingness  of  some  of  the  people  to  give  up  their 
nomadic  habits.  Souls  they  scarcely  seemed  to  have.  If  any 
race  resembled  the  driest  of  the  dry  bones  seen  by  Ezekiel,  this 
was  the  one.  But  by  and  by  to  the  amazement  of  their  country- 
men two  of  them,  Bony  and  Pepper,  young  men,  began  to  build 
something  of  a  house  in  imitation  of  the  one  occupied  by  the 
missionaries.  Nevertheless  there  did  not  as  yet  appear  the 
faintest  trace  of  interest  in  their  message  or  of  longing  for  sal- 
vation. For  weary  months  it  was  a  scattering  of  precious  seed 
on  bare  rocks.  The  ingrained  habit  of  begging,  especially  for 
tobacco,  was  a  source  of  annoyance.  Grossly  material  interests 
alone  appealed  to  the  blackfellows.  Feuds  often  led  to  strife. 
Once  Spieseke  was  in  imminent  danger.  Spears  and  boom- 
erangs were  already  flying.  The  women  and  children  had  fled 
or  had  taken  to  the  trees.  In  a  moment's  intermission  of  strife 
he  threw  himself  between  the  hostile  parties,  now  forty  or  fifty 
paces  apart.  For  a  time  it  appeared  as  though  his  life  would 
be  the  penalty.  But  calm,  decided  courage  won  the  day,  and 
peace  was  restored. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


467 


Suddenly  in  the  midst  of  all  that  was  unpromising,  the  story 
of  Kajarnak  received  its  counterpart.  It  is  January  17,  i860. 
Hagenauer  is  absent,  and  Spieseke  is  showing  to  a  group  of 
savages  pictures  illustrating  Scripture  history.  Now  one  is 
shown  of  a  man  kneeling  in  great  distress,  in  a  garden.  An 
agony  is  on  his  brow.  "What  is  that  ?  Show  me  that  again !" 
asks  one  of  the  group.  "Pepper,"  says  the  missionary,  "that  is 
Jesus.  He  weeps ;  he  is  in  great  sorrow,  and  He  weeps  for 
thee.  Pepper."  It  is  told  over  and  over  again ;  and  the  thought 
of  the  sufTering  Saviour  in  Gethsemane  awakens  the  long 
slumbering  soul  in  the  Australian  savage.  Hagenauer  on  re- 
turning recognizes  that  Pepper's  interested  question  only  con- 
firms signs  of  an  inner  working  of  the  Spirit  that  have  already 
"been  somewhat  perceptible  to  him.  One  Sunday  when  he  is 
riding  back  from  a  distant  appointment,  one  of  the  missionaries 
comes  upon  this  same  Pepper,  preaching  the  Christ  he  has  just 
found  and  only  half  knows  to  a  company  of  about  fifty  asso- 
ciates. He  is  now  given  special  instruction,  and  on  August  12, 
i860,  is  baptized,  receiving  the  name  Nathanael.  On  the  same 
day  the  church  at  Ebenezer  is  dedicated.  Gradually  it  became 
evident  that  the  dry  bones  could  be  clothed  with  flesh  and  sinew, 
could  receive  a  new  heart  and  be  filled  with  the  inbreathing  of 
the  divine  Spirit.  Here  progress  was  more  rapid  amongst  the 
men  than  the  women.  Gradually  the  old  terrible  customs 
began  to  disappear,  and  the  place  commenced  to  assume  the 
aspect  of  a  neat  village,  good  houses  with  nice  gardens  taking 
the  place  of  the  wretched  heaps  of  bark-covered  sticks.  The 
"Mallee"  gave  place  to  fields.  Christian  family  life  was  under- 
stood and  appreciated.  The  school  worked  marvellous  changes 
amongst  the  young. 

Meantime  the  initial  success  encouraged  friends  in  Mel- 
bourne, and  led  the  Presbyterian  Assembly  of  AustraHa  to  ofifer 
to  supply  the  money  for  the  estabHshment  of  another  station, 
if  the  Moravian  Church  would  furnish  the  men.  The  proposal 
was  accepted.  New  recruits  were  sent  out  to  the  mission,  and 
Hagenauer  was  appointed  to  explore  Gippsland.  On  a  reserve 
near  Lake  Wellington  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Avon  a  new  post 
was  founded  in  1863,  Ram.ahyuk,  that  is  in  the  blackfellows' 
tongue,  "Ramah,  our  home."  Here  the  first  convert,  James 
Matthews,  was  baptized  in  1866.  A  vigorous  school  soon  be- 
came characteristic  of  the  place. 


468 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Similar  success,  however,  was  not  vouchsafed  to  a  third 
attempt  in  the  wilderness  eight  hundred  miles  northwest  of 
Ebenezer,  near  Cooper's  Creek,  whither  the  Brethren  Walder, 
Meissel  and  Kramer  were  sent  in  1866.  Efforts  put  forth  at 
Kake  Kopperamanna,  forty  miles  west  of  Lake  Hope,  had  to  be 
abandoned,  owing  to  severe  drought  which  scattered  the  blacks 
and  compelled  neighboring  settlers  to  leave  their  sheep-runs. 
Furthermore  the  missionary  association  at  Melbourne  found  it 
difficult  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  mission.  The  three  mis- 
sionaries were  therefore  transferred  elsewhere.  Yet  another 
point  was  also  occupied  by  William  Julius  Kiihn,  namely, 
Yorke's  Peninsula,  about  one  hundred  miles  west-northwest  of 
Adelaide ;  but  after  varying  success  the  missionary  passed  into 
the  service  of  another  church. 

Whilst  Ebenezer  and  Ramahyuk  advanced  in  numbers  and 
various  industries  gave  employment — sheep-raising  at  the 
former  and  the  cultivation  of  arrowroot  at  the  latter — it  soon 
became  evident  that  the  church  had  been  called  to  minister 
beside  the  death-bed  of  a  race.  The  weaknesses  inherited  from 
generations  steeped  in  unchecked  vice  had  sapped  the  vitality 
of  the  people.  Consumption  and  kindred  diseases  were  almost 
universal.    Births  were  few  in  proportion  to  the  marriages. 

When  ignorance  and  conceit  are  amalgamated  and  fashioned 
into  weapons  of  offence  and  defence  they  present  an  almost 
invincible  front — invincible  save  by  the  grace  of  God.  This  the 
missionaries  on  the  western  Himalayas  for  years  experienced. 
The  opposition  was  one  of  supreme  indifference  and  contempt. 
Outside  of  Chinese  Tibet,  Pagell  and  Heyde  and  Jaeschke 
might  go  where  they  pleased  without  hindrance.  Buddhist 
monasteries  might  be  invaded,  and  the  folly  of  idolatry  de- 
nounced under  the  shadow  of  prayer-mills  and  within  the  sight 
of  shrines  wreathed  in  incense,  and  yet  no  angry  demonstra- 
tions be  called  forth — only  dull  scorn.  Conviction  of  sin  seemed 
impossible  where  the  very  conception  of  the  actual  nature  of 
sin  was  lacking,  so  distorted  was  the  mind  and  so  benumbed 
the  conscience  of  priests  and  people.  It  was  often  difficult  even 
to  gather  an  audience.  If  a  village  were  entered  in  the  course 
of  a  missionary  tour,  the  people  remained  in  their  houses,  to 
which  the  missionary  had  no  access.  If  the  weather  permitted, 
the  householders  might  be  on  the  flat  roofs.  Then,  the  house 
door  being  fastened,  the  stranger  must  needs  boldly  mount  up 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


469 


by  a  ladder  outside.  Possibly  the  people  would  meanwhile 
vanish.  If  they  remained,  he  must  be  content  to  hear  the  invi- 
tation passed  on  to  gather  for  the  performance  of  the  "tadmo," 
i.  e.,  juggler,  merry-andrew,  clown.  A  "holy"  man  will  say  to 
him :  "Your  religion  is  good  perhaps ;  but  you  do  not  fear  sin." 
"How  so?"  the  surprised  missionary  repHes.  "You  kill  sheep." 
On  his  trying  to  prove  that  God  has  not  forbidden  this,  and  on 
his  retorting  that  the  Buddhist  himself  eats  mutton  when  he 
can  get  it,  the  latter  will  say :  "Yes,  but  I  kill  nothmg,  not  even 
the  merest  insect."  "But  you  let  others  do  the  kiUing  for  you." 
"That  may  be ;  but  then  only  half  the  sin  is  mine.  Besides  I 
acknowledge  and  repent  of  my  sins  in  the  evening  of  each  day 
on  which  I  have  eaten  flesh." 

In  October,  1859,  the  arrival  of  their  brides  from  Germany 
gladdens  the  hearts  of  these  lonely  men,  and  they  can  begin  to 
enjoy  some  of  the  comforts  of  home  life.  Previous  to  this  they 
have  begun  to  employ  a  new  method  of  making  known  their 
message.  A  lithographic  press  has  been  set  up,  and  a  Tibetan, 
Sodnom  Stobkyes,  who  has  been  in  their  employ  for  some  years, 
proves  an  adept  at  handling  it.  Thus  Jaeschke  begins  to  dis- 
seminate his  translation  of  the  Harmony  of  the  Gospels.  Copies 
can  be  sent  into  the  great  closed  land,  Chinese  Tibet,  by  means 
of  traders  who  come  over  the  passes  with  their  packages  of  salt 
fastened  to  the  backs  of  sheep. 

In  1865  Pagell  and  his  wife  establish  a  second  station  at  Poo, 
in  Kunawur,  in  the  valley  of  the  Sutlej,  and  nearer  to  the  border 
which  they  wish  to  cross.  Jaeschke,  who  will  henceforth  devote 
himself  to  the  work  of  translation,  is  succeeded  as  superinten- 
dent by  Theodore  Rechler.  But  most  noteworthy  of  all  is  the 
gleam  of  hope  in  the  baptism  of  Sodnom  Stobkyes  and  his  son 
Joldan  on  October  11.  In  March  of  the  following  year  their 
example  is  followed  by  two  other  men,  and  later  by  the  wives 
of  these  last.  Jaeschke's  labor  bears  fruit  in  the  publication  of 
the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew  in  Tibetan  by  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  But  ill-health  and  the  complete  imdermining  of 
his  wife's  constitution  necessitate  his  return  to  Europe  in  the 
following  year.  His  translation  of  the  New  Testament  must 
be  completed  there. 

Meantime  an  unexpected  opening  ofifered  itself.  Small-pox 
was  making  fearful  ravages  in  Chinese  Thibet.  Whole  families 
had  died  out.    In  their  extremity  the  people  of  Tso-Tso,  one 


470 


A  HISTORY  OF 


of  the  western  provinces,  sent  for  Pagell  to  stay  the  scourge 
by  vaccination.  Although  in  bed  from  sickness  at  the  time  the 
cry  for  help  reached  him,  he  regarded  it  as  a  providential  sum- 
mons, and  set  out  over  the  passes  scarcely  free  from  snow. 
Nevertheless  the  officials  had  no  intention  of  permitting  his 
planting  the  gospel  within  the  territory  of  the  Dalai  Lama. 
After  he  had  vaccinated  six  hundred  and  thirty-nine  persons, 
he  was  compelled  to  return.  Not  wholly  disheartened  by  the 
inhibition  of  missionary  labor  in  Tibet,  Pagell  persevered  at 
Poo,  and  on  December  15,  1868,  baptized  his  first  convert  there, 
Baldan,  now  named  Joseph.  At  Kyelang  also  a  few  others 
were  added  to  the  little  church.  Now  the  mission  had  reached 
the  stage  when  indififerent  tolerance  passed  into  sharply  accen- 
tuated hostility.    The  converts  were  ostracized. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  LVII. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1869. 

Fifty-two  representatives  of  the  church  and  its  missions  met 
at  Herrnhut  on  May  24,  1869,  and  organization  was  ef¥ected  by 
the  choice  of  Levin  Theodore  Reichel  as  President,  with  Bishop 
Ernest  Reichel,  WilHam  Mallalieu  and  Emil  A.  de  Schweinitz 
as  Vice-Presidents. 

In  the  doctrinal  position  of  the  church  only  one  change  of 
significance  was  made,  viz.,  it  was  stipulated  that  hereafter 
neither  universal  salvation  nor  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked 
shall  be  taught  by  any  one  who  expects  to  remain  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Moravian  Church. 

In  connection  with  the  ritual,  in  response  to  petitions  from 
America  and  England  with  reference  to  the  mode  of  adminis- 
tering baptism,  synod  decided  that  whilst  affusion  or  sprinkling 
shall  continue  to  be  the  modes  in  use,  immersion  may  be 
allowed  in  exceptional  cases  where  it  is  a  matter  of  conscience 
with  the  individual,  provided  this  be  not  coupled  with  a  rejec- 
tion of  the  baptism  of  infants.  The  merits  of  each  exceptional 
case  are  to  be  passed  upon  by  the  Provincial  Elders'  Confer- 
ence having  jurisdiction.  Synod  also  gave  its  sanction  to  a 
usage  desired  by  the  American  congregations  and  tentatively 
approved  already  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  viz.,  that 
candidates  for  ordination  publicly  confess  their  faith  and  pledge 
their  fidelity  to  the  church  in  answer  to  a  series  of  questions 
addressed  to  them  by  the  bishop. 

The  legislation  with  reference  to  church  government  and  con- 
stitution was  mainly  a  working  out  in  further  detail  of  some 
particulars  not  fully  developed  by  the  synod  of  1857,  or  requir- 
ing readjustment,  c.  g.,  the  mode  of  filling  inter-synodical  vacan- 
cies in  those  departments  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference 
which  might  be  justly  regarded  as  more  narrowly  constituting 
the  governing  board  of  the  German  Province.     Whilst  the 


472 


A  HISTORY  OF 


choice  was  to  be  left  with  those  most  nearly  concerned,  the  two 
other  Provinces  of  the  church  should  each  have  one  vote  in  such 
an  emergency,  since  these  departments  constituted  a  part  of 
the  board  of  appeal  for  the  entire  Unity.  One  proposed  con- 
stitutional change  was  wholly  rejected  by  the  synod,  viz.,  that 
henceforth  all  members  of  the  governing  boards  of  the  Unity 
and  of  the  Provinces  and  the  superintendents  of  the  larger  mis- 
sion fields  should  be  consecrated  to  the  episcopate,  and  no 
others,  with  the  understanding  that  when  they  retired  from 
active  service  of  the  church  they  should  still  be  empowered  to 
ordain  but  should  no  longer  have  a  seat  and  vote  cx-ofncio  in 
general  synods. 

The  request  of  the  Northern  synod  in  America  for  liberty  to 
sub-divide  the  Province  into  Districts  and  to  institute  District 
synods,  was  granted,  with  provisos  guaranteeing  the  rights  of 
individual  congregations  and  guarding  against  infringement  of 
the  General  or  the  Provincial  constitution.  Similarly  favorable 
action  was  taken  in  reference  to  the  request  of  the  Southern 
Provincial  synod,  approved  already  in  the  North,  which  sought 
to  pave  the  way  for  an  organic  union  of  these  two  main  divisions 
of  the  American  Province. 

In  the  constituency  of  general  synods  a  slight  change  was 
made.  With  the  alienation  of  the  estates  of  the  Unity  in  North 
Carolina  by  their  transfer  to  the  Southern  Province,  to  congre- 
gations or  individuals,  the  office  of  administrator  ceased  as  a 
"Unity's  office,"  and  with  it  all  reason  for  his  presence  in  the 
general  synod.  The  Secretary  of  the  Missions  in  London,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  added  to  the  list  of  ex-oHicio  members. 

Obligation  to  have  recourse  to  the  official  lot  was  now  nar- 
rowed down  to  the  appointment  of  bishops  after  nomination  by 
the  respective  nominating  bodies,  and  the  acceptance  of  candi- 
dates for  missionary  service. 

Synod  definitely  stated  the  aim  of  the  missions  amongst  the 
heathen  to  be  the  winning  of  individual  souls  in  such  a  manner 
that  a  self-supporting  and  self-dependent  church  might  be  ulti- 
mately secured.  Cordial  approval  was  given  to  measures  taken 
during  the  past  period  with  a  view  to  the  more  systematic 
prosecution  of  the  work.  The  first  of  these  was  the  formula- 
tion of  a  code  of  regulations  in  1867,  designed  to  govern  the 
mutual  relationship  of  the  mission  board  and  the  missionaries. 
The  second  was  the  introduction  of  cash  salaries.  Originally 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


473 


the  missionaries  had  been  merely  suppHed  with  the  necessaries 
of  Hfe.  Since  1836  circumstances  had  led  to  the  gradual  substi- 
tution of  salaries  in  the  West  Indies.  The  third  was  the  found- 
ing of  an  institute  for  the  training  of  candidates  for  mission- 
service.  On  February  i,  1869,  a  "Mission  Institute"  had  been 
opened  at  Niesky  in  Prussia  by  Alexander  von  Dewitz.  It  was 
clearly  recognized  that  the  Brethren's  Houses  no  longer  fur- 
nished either  a  surficient  mimber  of  men  for  the  mission-fields 
or  men  adequately  trained. 

Provision  was  further  made  by  synod  for  a  uniform  classifica- 
tion of  the  membership  in  the  various  mission  congregations. 
Detailed  plans  were  devised  for  developing  mission  congrega- 
tions in  such  a  manner  that  their  organization  should  more 
nearly  approach  that  of  the  home  churches,  with  church  coun- 
cils and  the  various  committees  or  boards  in  vogue  in  the  home 
organizations.  At  the  request  of  the  preparatory  conference 
held  at  Shiloh,  the  South  African  work  was  divided  into  two 
Provinces,  Shiloh,  Goshen,  Engotini  and  Baziya  constituting 
the  Eastern  and  the  remainder  of  the  mission  stations  the 
Western,  that  supervision  might  be  facilitated,  extension  pro- 
moted, and  the  distinct  problems  of  the  two  parts  of  the  field 
receive  the  more  thorough  attention. 

A  new  joint  undertaking  of  the  entire  Unity  was  projected. 
Petitions  had  been  received  from  England  and  from  America 
of  practically  the  same  import,  though  there  had  been  no  pre- 
concerted action.  The  one  was  from  Bishop  Seififerth,  himself 
a  descendant  of  members  of  the  old  Unity  of  the  Brethren. 
The  other  had  received  the  signature  of  every  minister  of  the 
Moravian  Church  in  the  United  States.  Both  memorials  prayed 
that  steps  be  taken  to  commence  a  work  of  evangelization  in 
the  twin-lands  of  the  forefathers,  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  not 
on  the  basis  of  the  Diaspora,  but  with  a  view  to  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  Unity  there  as  a  distinct  church.  Synod  accepted 
the  peculiar  coincidence  and  the  fervent  unity  of  the  American 
ministry  as  tokens  of  a  higher  will.  It  was  determined,  that, 
while  for  the  present  good  faith  to  sister  evangelical  churches 
required  the  continuance  of  auxiliary  Diaspora  work  at  Rosen- 
dorf,  Tschenkowitz  and  Rothwasser,  if  openings  offered  else- 
where home  missions  like  those  in  England  and  America  should 
be  undertaken  in  the  seats  of  the  fathers,  provided  permission 
could  be  secured  from  the  Austrian  government.    Such  enter- 


474 


A  HISTORY  OF 


prises  were  to  be  carried  on  in  the  name  and  at  the  cost  of  the 
entire  Unity  by  a  committee  in  Germany  with  associate  mem- 
bers in  the  other  Provinces,  acting  under  the  direction  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference.  Cooperation  heartily  accorded,  it 
was  believed  that  ere  long  the  name  of  the  Brethren  would  once 
more  become  a  power  for  good  in  places  hallowed  by  the 
memory  of  ancient  piety  and  fidelity. 

Finally  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  was  reconstituted  as 
follows :  the  Department  of  Education  and  of  the  Pastoral 
Office,  Bishop  Gustavus  T.  Tietzen,  President,  Bishop  C.  W. 
Croger,  Theophilus  Reichel  and  William  Verbeek ;  the  Depart- 
ment of  Finance,  Gustavus  Reichel,  E.  N.  Hahn,  George 
Frederick  Martin  and  Henry  Levin  Reichel ;  the  Department  of 
Missions,  Bishop  Ernest  Reichel,  Levin  Theodore  Reichel, 
Augustus  Clemens  and  Frederick  WilHam  Kiihn. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


475- 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 


THE  GERMAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1869  TO  1879. 

The  German  Province  was  granted  an  uneventful  close  to  the 
year  of  the  general  synod,  although  premonitions  of  a  coming 
storm  were  not  wanting.  In  1870  the  tempest  broke  in  its  fury. 
On  July  19  the  formal  declaration  of  war  was  deHvered  at  the 
Prussian  capital.  Europe  was  speedily  appalled  at  the  rapidity 
with  which  battle  followed  battle,  and  at  the  awful  carnage 
and  devastation  involved.  Neuwied  and  Konigsfeld  dreaded  a 
repetition  of  the  scenes  which  had  transpired  early  in  the  cen- 
tury. But  after  Saarbriicken  had  been  followed  by  Weisseni- 
burg  and  Worth  and  Spichern,  and  when  the  indecisive  but 
bloody  conflicts  at  Rezonville  and  Gravelotte  had  formed  a  pre- 
lude to  Beaumont  and  Sedan,  and  Bazaine  was  content  to 
remain  in  Metz,  it  became  clear  that  France,  not  Germany,  must 
be  on  the  defensive.  Yet  the  scourge  of  war  left  its  marks  on 
the  victors  also.  There  were  those  whose  brothers  or  fathers 
or  sons  or  husbands  were  carrying  their  lives  in  their  hands 
for  king  and  country.  Neuwied,  closing  its  schools  tempor- 
arily, yielded  its  chief  buildings,  the  church  included,  for  hos- 
pital service,  or  for  the  fitting  out  of  miUtary  establishments. 
The  Diaspora  in  France  sufJered,  Hillberg  and  Bonhof  perforce 
leaving  Bordeaux  and  St.  Hippolyte.  But  Breutel  at  Stras- 
burg  experienced  the  dangers  of  the  siege.  Preliminaries  of 
peace  being  signed  on  February  26,  1871,  and  the  Treaty  of 
Frankfort  consummated  on  May  10,  the  union  of  Germany 
under  Prussian  leadership  was  an  accomplished  fact.  The  new 
status  of  civil  af¥airs  was  followed  by  changes  of  significance 
for  the  church.  Schools  of  every  description  were  brought 
under  governmental  supervision.  The  difficulty  of  securing  a 
sufficient  number  of  thoroughly  trained  teachers  was  acutely 
felt.  This  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  normal  school  for  male 
teachers  at  Niesky  and  of  a  similar  institute  for  female  teachers 


476 


A  HISTORY  OF 


at  Gnadau.  Meanwhile  a  recently  erected  building  was  entered 
by  the  school  for  boys  at  Neuwied,  on  September  13,  1871,  and 
in  1873  the  flourishing  school  for  boys  at  Lausanne  in  order  to 
secure  adequate  accommodations  effected  a  transfer  to  the 
castle  of  Prangins,  near  Noyon,  on  the  west  shore  of  Lake 
Geneva. 

Events  had  also  been  transpiring  in  Switzerland,  which  placed 
the  work  of  the  Moravian  Church  on  a  new  basis.  There  was 
no  longer  any  good  reason  for  maintaining  the  status  of  a  sub- 
dued Diaspora  in  Canton  Neuchatel.  Hence,  in  1873,  congre- 
gations were  organized  at  Montmirail,  La  Locle  and  Chaux-de- 
fonds  and  at  Peseux,  Marc  Theophil  Richard,  Theodore  Schiitz 
and  Eugene  Reichel  being  their  pastors. 

In  Germany  itself  death  was  busy  among  the  leaders.  Bishop 
Matthiesen  had  died  on  October  10,  1869,  for  thirty-three  years 
a  member  of  the  governing  board.  Charles  Frederick  Schor- 
dan  followed  on  October  31,  1870,  for  twenty-eight  years  the 
President  of  the  college  at  Niesky,  and  then  for  nineteen  years 
a  member  of  the  Conference.  In  1874  Ernest  Nathanael  Hahn 
retired  after  forty  years  of  active  service,  nine  of  them  in  the 
Conference.  Augustus  Clemens  died  on  May  5,  1874,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Department  of  Missions  for  ten  years.  On  February 
18,  1875,  Bishop  Breutel  passed  away,  four  score  years  of  age. 
On  February  3,  1878,  Bishop  Ernest  William  Croger  died.  On 
May  23  Bishop  Levin  Theodore  Reichel  likewise  heard  the 
summons  to  come  up  higher.  For  twenty  years  he  had  been  a 
most  valuable  member  of  the  Department  of  Missions.  America 
had  enjoyed  his  services.  Several  times  he  had  officially  visited 
distant  mission  fields,  and  had  also  personally  learnt  to  know 
the  British  Province  and  the  Diaspora  in  Livonia  and  Esthonia. 
His  was  therefore  a  very  thorough  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  work  of  the  entire  church.  The  most  important  of  his 
recent  official  visits  had  been  to  the  British  Province  in  1874, 
and  his  second  visit  to  Labrador  in  1876.  The  former  of  these 
was  undertaken  in  conjunction  with  his  colleague,  Frederick 
William  Kiihn.  Together  they  participated  in  the  transactions 
of  the  Provincial  svnod  held  at  Fairfield,  from  June  24  to 
July  8. 

On  May  27,  1868,  a  Provincial  synod  preparatory  to  the 
general  synod  of  1879  convened  at  Herrnhut.  Henry  Levin 
Reichel  presided.    A  conservative  tone  prevailed.    Two  seri- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


477 


ous  gaps  were  made  in  its  membership  before  many  days  passed. 
Ernest  L.  Wiinsche,  the  eloquent  and  influential  pastor  of  the 
Berlin  congregation  for  the  past  twenty-six  years,  had  scarcely 
been  excused  from  attendance  by  the  advice  of  his  physician, 
when  on  June  14  there  came  the  news  of  his  exceedingly  sud- 
den death.  On  the  19th  of  the  same  month  Bishop  Ernest 
Frederick  Reichel,  the  Vice-President  of  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference,  also  died.  He  was  seventy-one  years  of  age,  and 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Conference  since  1850,  oversight 
of  the  missions  being  his  special  sphere.  Gustavus  Reichel  now 
became  Vice-President.  The  vacancies  in  the  Department  of 
Missions  were  filled  by  the  election  of  James  Connor,  of  Ock- 
brook,  England,  and  Eugene  F.  Reichel,  of  Peseux.  Louis 
Erxleben  was  appointed  to  Berlin. 

The  most  noteworthy  of  the  transactions  of  the  synod  were 
the  following:  In  connection  with  the  doctrinal  position  of 
the  church,  the  general  synod  was  asked  to  refer  to  the  Easter 
Morning  Litany  as  giving  in  substance  the  faith  as  apprehended 
by  the  Moravian  Church,  and  to  avow  acquiescence  in  the 
so-called  Apostles'  Creed.  It  was  further  desired  to  state  more 
explicitly  adherence  to  faith  in  the  vicarious  atonement  of 
Christ,  and  to  clearly  confess  His  true  divinity  and  true  human- 
ity. Confession  of  faith  in  the  fellowship  of  beUevers  in  the 
church  universal  of  which  He  is  the  head,  and  in  eternal  life 
and  a  blessed  resurrection,  should  also  be  more  definitely 
asserted.  Synod  took  a  position  in  regard  to  Sabbath  observ- 
ance in  advance  of  continental  usage.  The  liberal  position  of 
the  Moravian  Church  in  America  respecting  public  vocal  prayer 
by  women  in  services  of  the  church  or  in  prayer-meetings  was 
sharply  antagonized. 

Meanwhile  anxieties  were  aroused  in  connection  with 
Sarepta.  Alterations  in  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  Russia  threat- 
ened to  deprive  it  of  its  favored  status.  Freedom  from  mili- 
tary service  was  definitely  abrogated,  and  the  permanence  of 
other  privileges  granted  by  the  special  concession  appeared  very 
questionable. 


478 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LIX. 


THE  BRITISH  PROVINCE,  FROM  1869  TO  1879. 

During  this  decade  increased  liberality  attests  deepening 
appreciation  of  responsibility  for  the  foreign  missions,  and  the 
systematic  activity  of  the  Juvenile  Missionary  Societies  estab- 
lished in  the  schools  of  the  church  trains  the  young  to  intelli- 
gently support  this  cause.  Pensions  are  raised,  and  the  move- 
ment for  the  equalization  of  ministerial  salaries  simplifies  the 
problem  of  ministerial  appointments.  Union  of  evangelistic 
ef?ort  with  sister  churches  may  be  observed  here  and  there,  and 
the  visit  of  Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey  with  its  attendant  pro- 
motion of  vital  godliness  in  many  parts  has  its  significance  for 
the  Moravian  Church  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  amongst 
the  rest. 

The  Provincial  synod  assembled  thrice.  Fulneck  welcomed 
the  first  convocation,  on  June  21,  1871.  Bishop  La  Trobe  pre- 
sided. The  following  transactions  may  be  recounted :  Hence- 
forth the  general  superintendence  of  the  home  missions  shall 
be  relegated  to  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference.  Local  com- 
mittees shall  assist  in  the  management  of  details,  and  an  auxili- 
ary society  is  to  be  organized  in  every  congregation.  Heck- 
mondvvike,  a  filial  hitherto  of  Mirfield,  is  to  receive  a  minister 
of  its  own.  Synod  consents  to  the  continuance  of  West  Pen- 
nard,  but  recommends  the  abandonment  of  the  field,  if  later 
developments  render  this  step  advisable.  Provision  is  made 
for  pensioning  Irish  Scripture-readers.  Synod  voices  its  deep 
interest  in  the  newly  commenced  mission  in  Bohemia,  and 
reiterates  the  responsibility  of  the  Province  over  against  the 
foreign  missions.  Bishop  SeifTerth  and  William  Mallalieu  on 
account  of  advancing  years  retire  from  the  Conference.  The 
new  board  is  therefore  constituted  of  Bishop  James  La  Trobe, 
Bishop  John  England,  and  Thomas  Leopold  Badham;  synod 
elects  as  Trustees  of  the  Provincial  Estates,  William  Taylor, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


479 


John  William  Scandrett,  Robert  Elliot  and  Herbert  Edwards ; 
as  editor  of  the  Messenger,  Charles  Sutclifife,  assisted  by  J.  Hull, 
Jackson  Shawe  and  Herbert  Edwards. 

Only  a  few  weeks  elapse  when  the  entire  Brethren's  Unity 
mourns  the  loss  of  one  of  her  most  active  and  most  widely  known 
leaders,  William  MallaUeu,  who  died  at  Ockbrook  on  August  30, 
1871.  Born  on  November  22,  1798,  at  Fairfield,  he  commenced 
his  service  of  the  church  in  1824,  as  warden  of  that  congregation, 
and  participated  in  the  general  synod  of  1825.  Ten  years  later 
he  was  called  to  London  as  agent  of  missions,  and  in  1847  ^^'^ 
1848  in  conjunction  with  Bishop  Hermann  paid  an  official  visit 
to  the  West  Indies,  returning  by  way  of  the  United  States.  In 
1857  his  election  as  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Elder's  Con- 
ference placed  in  his  hands  the  management  of  the  Provincial 
finances,  a  task  discharged  with  notable  ability.  Calm,  steady, 
thorough  and  persevering  in  the  prosecution  of  duties,  his 
cheerful  kindliness  and  large  benevolence  endeared  him  to  the 
entire  church.  Repeatedly  he  represented  his  Province  at  gen- 
eral synods,  and  the  devoted  zeal  of  his  friendly  offices  lightened 
the  leave-taking  of  many  a  missionary  when  embarking  for  a 
distant  land,  or  soothed  the  troubles  of  the  aged  or  infirm  or 
widowed  or  orphaned  when  returning.  It  was  in  keeping  with 
his  character  and  life,  that  his  Hke-minded  widow  now  in  his 
memory  presented  the  sum  of  $25,000  to  various  Provincial 
funds. 

Besides  witnessing  the  new  advance  at  Heckmondwike,  the 
year  1871  was  noteworthy  also  for  the  commencement  of  sys- 
tematic efTorts  to  establish  a  home  mission  in  the  North  of 
Ireland's  busy  commercial  and  manufacturing  entrepot,  Bel- 
fast. For  three  years  the  services  of  Scripture-readers  were 
mainly  employed,  and  in  particular  those  of  John  James 
Hanna,  of  Kilwarlin.  In  December,  1874,  however,  WilHam 
Lang  was  introduced  as  a  resident  home-missionary,  rooms  in 
the  Abercorn  Buildings,  on  Victoria  Street,  being  rented.  In 
1877  Samuel  Kershaw  became  his  successor,  and  Lombard  Hall 
was  rented  in  1878,  to  be  used  until  1877,  when  a  church  was 
erected. 

In  June,  1874,  the  synod  again  convened  at  Fairfield,  owing 
to  the  desire  of  the  Mission  Board  that  the  agency  for  the  mis- 
sions in  London  should  be  permanently  undertaken  by  the  Pro- 
vincial Elders  of  the  British  Province,  a  change  which  would 


48o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


necessitate  their  removal  from  Ockbrook  to  the  metropoHs. 
Levin  Theodore  Reichel  and  Frederick  WilHam  Kiihn,  of  the 
Mission  Board,  were  present  to  explain  and  urge  the  desira- 
bility of  the  change.  The  agency  was  constituted  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Elders,  together  with  the  Secretary  of  the  missions  and 
one  other  brother,  at  first  the  venerable  Bishop  James  La 
Trobe.  Thomas  Leopold  Badham  was  selected  as  the  actually 
responsible  agent,  with  J.  F.  Pemsel  as  the  business  manager 
in  charge  of  affairs ;  and  later  a  sub-committee  of  the  Society 
for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  was  also  called  in  to  assist. 
The  seat  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  was  transferred 
to  London  during  the  following  year. 

Synod  ordered  the  removal  of  the  college  and  seminary  from 
Fulneck  to  Fairfield,  that  the  students  might  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  Owen's  College  (Victoria  University),  Manchester. 

The  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  was  constituted  of  Bishop 
England,  Thomas  Leopold  Badham  and  William  Taylor.  Sut- 
cliffe  received  as  his  assistants  in  charge  of  the  church  paper 
Jackson  Shawe  and  John  Daniel  Libbey. 

At  the  age  of  eighty  Bishop  Benjamin  Seifferth  entered  into 
rest  at  Ockbrook,  on  January  31,  1876.  His  grandfather  was 
Anthony  Seififerth,  the  first  Moravian  minister  ordained  in  what 
are  now  the  United  States  of  North  America,  and  his  great- 
grandfather was  Georg  Seifart,  who  with  his  wife  Anna,  in.  n. 
Beyer,  fled  to  Herrnhut  from  Zauchtenthal  in  Moravia.  Born 
near  Fulneck,  on  December  17,  1795,  he  had  to  contend  with 
many  disadvantages  when  young.  But  in  men  like  'Christian 
Frederick  Ramftler  and  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel  and  Daniel 
Steinhauer  he  had  found  helpful  friends,  and  by  dint  of  perse- 
verance had  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  classics  and 
Hebrew.  In  1814  he  became  a  tutor  in  the  prosperous  academy 
of  Joseph  Hinchcliffe,  first  at  Quarry  Gap  and  then  at  Horton 
House.  In  March,  1825,  his  sphere  of  work  was  removed  to 
Bristol,  where  he  was  engaged  for  four  years  as  a  classical  and 
mathematical  tutor.  Then  he  accepted  the  directorship  of  a 
classical  and  academic  institution  on  St.  Michael's  Hill,  Bristol, 
a  private  undertaking  enjoying  the  countenance  of  the  church 
authorities.  After  for  some  time  assisting  Ramftler,  of  Bristol, 
in  ministerial  duties,  in  the  year  1833  he  agreed  to  undertake  the 
temporary  supply  of  Kingswood,  though  at  first  with  hesitation 
and  diffidence.    Malmesbury  became  his  first  regular  appoint- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ment  after  ordination  in  the  following  year.  Having  served  in 
the  pastorate  of  various  congregations,  he  entered  the  Confer- 
ence in  1843.  For  twenty-four  years  he  was  its  President,  and 
six  times  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  Provincial  synods. 
His  consecration  to  the  episcopate  took  place  in  1846.  One  of 
his  colleagues  has  paid  the  following  tribute  to  his  character: 
"He  loved  the  Bible,  he  loved  the  classics,  he  loved  young  men, 

and  he  loved  the  church  Few  men  who  have  attained  that 

honorable  office  have  so  fully  come  up  to  the  inspired  portrait 
of  a  bishop  indeed." 

In  the  same  year  another  loss  was  widely  felt,  that  of  Jacob 
Amandus  Eberle,  pastor  of  Dublin,  whose  missionary  descent 
had  made  itself  perceptible  in  his  advocacy  of  the  mission  cause, 
and  whose  methodic  accuracy  had  been  of  signal  value  in 
synodical  gatherings.    He  was  in  his  sixty-first  year. 

On  June  26,  1878,  the  synod  convened  at  Fairfield,  Bishop 
England  presiding.  By  it  the  Irish  Home  Missionary  Society 
and  the  Scripture  Readers'  Society  were  merged  into  one,  under 
the  true  title  of  the  latter  organization,  the  Society  of  the  Breth- 
ren's Church  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Ireland.  A  re- 
vision of  the  hymn-book  was  resolved  upon,  and  a  committee 
appointed  for  the  purpose — Bishop  James  La  Trobe,  James 
Connor,  Joseph  H.  Willey  and  Bennet  Harvey.  "General 
Elders'  Conferences,"  not  for  the  purpose  of  legislation,  but  for 
mutual  advice  and  cooperation  and  local  supervision  under  the 
Provincial  Conference,  were  appointed  for  the  West  of  Eng- 
land, the  Eastern  counties  and  the  North  of  Ireland.  The  bene- 
fits of  this  form  of  organization,  the  membership  of  which  in- 
cluded practically  all  the  ministers  in  active  service  in  the  Dis- 
trict and  the  incumbents  of  such  spiritual  offices  as  "choir 
laborers,"  had  already  been  enjoyed  in  Yorkshire  and  in  Lan- 
cashire. Bishops  John  England  and  William  Taylor,  with  Wil- 
liam Robbins  were  elected  Provincial  Elders. 


32 


482 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LX. 


THE  AMERICAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1869  TO  1879. 

In  accordance  with  the  sanction  of  General  synod,  the  Pro- 
vincial synod  at  York  in  the  spring  of  1870  sub-divided  the 
American  Province  in  the  North  into  four  Districts,  in  each  of 
which  annual  conferences  were  to  be  convened,  constituted  of 
ministers  and  lay  delegates.  Legislative  powers  were  not  given 
to  these  bodies.  Their  function  should  be  to  promote  vital 
religion  within  their  district ;  to  examine  into,  develop  and 
strengthen  the  work  of  the  church,  collect  information,  hear 
complaints  and  grievances,  examine  into  the  causes  thereof, 
endeavor  to  adjust  and  reconcile  differences,  examine  how  the 
enactments  of  synod  are  carried  out  in  the  district,  and  stimulate 
systematic  beneficence.  The  congregations  in  the  State  of  New 
York  together  with  the  congregation  in  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey, 
constituted  the  First  District ;  those  in  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land, and  the  remaining  congregations  in  New  Jersey,  the 
Second ;  those  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Michigan,  the 
Third ;  those  in  Iowa,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  the  Fourth. 
The  first  of  these  conferences  took  place  in  Brooklyn  on  Janu- 
ary 25  and  26,  1871 ;  and  for  several  years  the  plan  was  carried 
out  with  regularity  ;  but  the  financial  depression  of  the  entire 
country  then  necessitated  an  intermission  of  the  conferences, 
especially  where  great  distances  separated  the  congregations 
and  increased  the  cost  of  assembling. 

Church  extension  meantime  continued  to  receive  paramount 
attention.  In  February,  1870,  Edward  J.  Regennas  was  sent 
to  Unionville,  Huron  Co.,  Michigan.  A  congregation  was 
organized  and  attained  successful  proportions,  notwithstanding 
severe  forest  fires  in  the  autumn  of  1871.  Mamre,  hitherto  a 
filial  of  Lake  Mills,  in  1870  received  its  own  pastor  in  the  per- 
son of  William  Stengel.  In  June,  1872,  the  "Bethlehem  Mis- 
sion" in  Philadelphia  was  founded,  William  H.  Vogler  becom- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


ing  the  first  pastor.  Coveville  was  separated  from  Hopedale, 
William  H.  Hoch  taking  charge.  After  a  few  years,  however, 
this  enterprise  was  reunited  with  its  mother-congregation, 
owing  to  the  decrease  in  population  with  the  abandonment  of 
the  tanneries,  the  sole  industry,  after  the  clearing  of  the  great 
forests  of  the  Pocono  region.  The  dedication  of  a  church  at 
Castleton  Corners,  on  Staten  Island,  August  31,  1873,  a  place 
of  worship  for  a  portion  of  the  New  Dorp  congregation,  prac- 
tically marked  a  new  advance,  although  no  division  of  member- 
ship was  made.  Meanwhile  in  1872  El  Dorado,  Wisconsin,  and 
North  English  and  Victor,  Iowa,  had  been  commenced.  Next 
year  Sturgeon  Bay  was  separated  from  Ephraim,  and  received 
as  its  pastor  Christian  Madsen,  a  graduate  of  the  mission  insti- 
tute at  Niesky  in  Silesia.  The  steadily  growing  commercial 
importance  of  this  thriving  city,  especially  after  the  completion 
of  the  ship  canal  between  Lake  Michigan  and  Sturgeon  Bay, 
rendered  it  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  Scandinavian  con- 
gregations. Next  year  Hebron,  on  the  fertile  plateaus  of 
Winona  County,  Minnesota,  was  separated  from  Bethany,  and 
placed  in  charge  of  Herman  Meinert,  and  towards  the  close  of 
the  year  Berea  was  organized.  In  October  Joseph  Mortimer 
Levering  took  charge  of  the  new  organization  in  Uhrichsvillc, 
Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio,  and  in  the  same  month,  Gerah,  the 
filial  of  Mamre,  dedicated  its  church.  In  the  summer  of  1875  a 
church  was  bought  at  Independence,  Van  Buren  County,  Iowa, 
and  James  Haman  became  pastor.  Here  as  in  other  parts  of 
the  same  state,  the  tendency  to  the  consolidation  of  farms  into 
large  estates,  with  a  consequent  decrease  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion, militated  against  the  work.  More  permanent,  however, 
was  the  organization  effected  by  Henry  Lehman  amongst  Ger- 
man settlers  at  Manasseh,  not  far  from  Ephraim,  Wisconsin,  on 
October  25  of  the  same  year. 

On  November  24,  1870,  Bishop  John  Christian  Jacobson  died 
in  Bethlehem.  Born  in  1795,  at  Burkal,  in  Denmark,  he  had 
come  to  America  in  1816,  serving  first  as  a  teacher  in  Nazareth 
Hall  and  then  from  1824  to  1826  as  a  professor  in  the  theo- 
logical seminary.  For  eight  years  he  had  been  pastor  of  Beth- 
ania.  North  Carolina,  and  was  for  ten  years,  1834  to  1844, 
in  charge  of  Salem  Female  Academy,  serving  also  during  the 
greater  part  of  this  period  as  a  member  of  the  Southern  Pro- 
vincial Elders'  Conference.    Transferred  to  the  North,  he  be- 


484 


A  HISTORY  OF 


came  Principal  of  Nazareth  Hall  and  a  member  of  the  Northern 
Conference,  until  his  election  as  President  of  the  latter  body- 
in  1849.  Consecrated  a  bishop  at  Lititz  in  1854,  he  remained 
President  of  the  Conference  lor  eighteen  years,  until  the 
increasing  infirmities  of  age  compelled  a  retirement  from  active 
life.  As  one  of  the  American  delegates  to  the  synod  of  1848, 
he  had  contributed  materially  to  the  revision  of  the  constitution 
of  the  church.  Bishop  Peter  Wolle,  who  died  on  November 
14,  1871,  was  born  in  1792  at  New  Herrnhut,  St.  Thomas.  In 
1807  he  became  a  member  of  the  first  class  in  the  newly  consti- 
tuted theological  seminary.  His  first  ministerial  appointment, 
that  of  assistant  in  Salem,  was  followed  by  service  in  the  pas- 
torate at  Bethania,  Lancaster,  Philadelphia  and  Lititz.  In  Lititz 
he  labored  from  1836  to  1853,  being  also  a  member  of  the  execu- 
tive board.  Here,  too,  he  was  consecrated  a  bishop  on  Sep- 
tember 28,  1845,  by  Bishops  Benade  and  Van  Vleck.  After  an 
ad  interim  appointment  to  Canal  Dover,  in  1855,  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  and  served  till 
1 861,  since  which  year  he  had  been  living  in  retirement  at  Beth- 
lehem. Philip  Henry  Goepp,  who  died  on  Staten  Island  in 
March,  1872,  was  born  in  1798,  at  Gnadenfrei.  In  1852  he  had 
been  appointed  a  professor  in  the  theological  seminary  at  Gna- 
denfeld,  and  was  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference  from  1833  to  1834.  His  appointment  as  adminis- 
trator in  Pennsylvania  brought  him  to  America  in  1834,  and 
upon  the  separation  of  the  Provinces  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  executive  board.  Retiring  from  active  life  in  1861,  he 
revisited  Germany,  but  returned  to  America  in  1870. 

The  synod  which  convened  at  Lititz  in  June,  1873,  amended 
that  by-law  which  prohibited  a  Provincial  Elder  from  simultane- 
ously holding  some  other  ministerial  appointment,  and  recom- 
mended that  the  members  of  the  board  should  remove  their 
residence  from  Bethlehem,  if  such  a  removal  was  found  practi- 
cable and  would  result  in  decreasing  the  expenditures  of  the 
Sustentation  Ftmd  or  improving  its  condition.  This  legislation 
led  to  practical  results  very  soon.  Scarcely  two  months  had 
passed,  when  Sylvester  Wolle,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Conference, 
whose  health  had  for  several  years  been  gradually  giving  way, 
died  suddenly  on  August  28.  He  was  in  his  fifty-eighth  year, 
a  man  '  full  of  untiring  energy  and  zeal,"  "one  of  the  most  con 
spicuous  and  useful  servants  of  the  church."    On  November  17 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


485 


Francis  Raymond  Holland,  Principal  of  Hope  Seminary,  was 
elected  his  successor.  "In  order  that  this  school  might  not 
suffer  detriment,  and  to  lessen  the  expenses  of  the  Sustenta- 
tion  Fund,  as  also  to  test  the  practicability  of  accomplishing  all 
that  was  required  of  an  executive  board  having  one  of  its 
members  separated  by  a  distance  of  nearly  nine  hundred  miles 
from  the  other  two,"  he  continued  to  reside  in  Hope,  retain- 
ing his  position  there,  whilst  his  colleagues  remained  in  Bethle- 
hem, Robert  de  Schweinitz  serving  as  President  and  Treasurer 
and  Lewis  F.  Kampmann  as  Secretary.  Other  important 
changes  transpired.  Eugene  A.  Frueauff  resigning  the  princi- 
palship  of  Linden  Hall,  was  followed  by  Herman  A.  Bricken- 
stein.  In  his  place  Jesse  Blickensderfer  became  Secretary  of 
Publications.  On  the  day  before  Palm  Sunday,  1874,  Lewis 
R.  Huebener  died  suddenly  at  Gnadenhiitten.  He  had  been  a 
professor  in  the  theological  seminary  from  1858  to  18C4,  and 
for  the  following  two  years  its  President.  Later  he  had  served 
in  the  pastorate  at  Bethlehem,  Hope  and  Gnadenhiitten.  Henry 
J.  Van  Vleck  was  appointed  his  successor.  Next  year  in  July 
Bishop  David  Bigler  died  at  Lancaster,  where  he  had  been 
pastor  for  eleven  years.  Born  in  1806,  at  Hagerstown,  Mary- 
land, he  had  served  for  several  years  at  Nazareth  Hall,  and  then 
as  a  missionary  in  St.  Kitts  and  Antigua.  His  pastorate  in 
Lancaster  had  been  preceded  by  similar  labors  in  Philadel- 
phia, New  York  and  Bethlehem,  where  he  had  been  consecrated 
a  bishop  on  July  31,  1864  by  Bishops  Samuel  Reinke,  Peter 
Wolle  and  John  C.  Jacobson.  Edmund  A.  Oerter  succeeded 
him  in  Lancaster.  Previous  to  this  the  church  had  lost  by 
death,  on  January  21,  1875,  Bishop  Samuel  Reinke,  who  had 
been  living  in  retirement  at  Bethlehem  since  i860.  A  com- 
panion of  Bishop  Peter  Wolle  as  a  member  of  the  first  class  of 
the  theological  seminary,  his  had  been  long  and  varied  pas- 
toral service  distinguished  by  fearless  fideHty.  On  October  25 
Martin  Hauser  died  at  Hope.  To  his  untiring  energy  and  zeal, 
Hope,  Enon,  West  Salem  and  Olney  owed  their  origin.  He 
was  now  a  venerable  father  of  seventy-six  years,  and  of  late 
had  been  living  in  retirement. 

When  the  Provincial  synod  convened  at  Nazareth,  in  May, 
1876,  church  extension  received  chief  attention.  Synod 
decided  to  entrust  this  work  to  a  "Provincial  Board  of  Church 
Extension,"  to  be  constituted  of  four  ministers  and  four  laymen 


486 


A  HISTORY  OF 


together  with  one  Provincial  Elder.  To  them  was  assigned  the 
task  of  raising,  prior  to  the  next  triennial  synod  a  "Church 
Extension  Fund"  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  capital  of  this 
fund  should  ever  remain  intact,  nor  should  any  of  the  interest  be 
used  until  the  entire  amount  to  be  capitalized  was  in  hand. 
Thereafter  the  interest  should  be  loaned  or  donated,  to  assist 
home  mission  charges  in  the  erection  of  churches  or  parsonages. 
The  board  was  constituted  of  the  following  ministerial  mem- 
bers :  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  Herman  S.  Hoffman, 
Edward  J.  Regennas  and  Henry  Reusswig ;  lay  members,  Nath- 
anael  S.  Wolle,  C.  A.  Zoebisch.  Charles  Gebhard  and  Joseph 
A.  Rice ;  member  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  Francis 
R.  Holland.  Herman  S.  Hoffm.an  was  elected  Corresponding 
Secretary,  and  later  Francis  R.  Holland  became  President, 
Edmund  de  Schweinitz  and  Henry  Reusswig  Vice-Presidents, 
C.  A.  Zoebisch  Treasurer,  and  Joseph  A.  Rice  Recording  Secre- 
tary. The  active  canvass  of  the  congregations  was  commenced 
by  the  Corresponding  Secretary  in  September,  1876;  but  in 
June  of  the  following  year  he  was  compelled  by  sickness  to  tem- 
porarily lay  aside  the  duties  of  this  office.  The  Recording  Sec- 
retary assumed  the  duties  of  correspondence,  and  Edward  J. 
Regennas  continued  the  canvass  of  the  congregations,  visit- 
ing Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  By  the  fall 
of  1878  the  cash  assets  of  the  fund  amounted  to  $13,677.62. 

District  Boards  of  Church  Extension  were  meanwhile  organ- 
ized and  although  the  general  condition  of  business  throughout 
the  country  was  not  propitious,  several  advances  were  made. 
An  endeavor  was  put  forth  to  separate  Ixonia  from  Watertown, 
and  Vincent  Seifert  was  sent  thither  as  pastor;  but  in  1877  the 
former  connection  was  reestablished.  In  October  1876  Fred- 
erick W.  Shaw,  a  member  of  the  Second  Church  in  Philadel- 
phia, with  the  aid  of  a  number  of  coadjutors  from  the  same 
congregation,  commenced  a  Sunday-school  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  city,  and  west  of  the  Fourth  Church.  A  congregation 
was  organized  on  June  3,  1877.  and  later  a  church  building  on 
Germantown  Avenue,  above  Dauphin  Street  was  purchased. 
Work  begun  by  Francis  F.  Hagen  at  Blairstown,  Iowa,  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  a  congregation  of  which  Charles  L.  Moencb 
became  pastor  in  1878.  In  July.  1877,  Charles  Steinfort  organ- 
ized Osborne,  Kansas.  In  November  Henry  Lehman  gathered 
into  a  congregation  Germans  to  whom  he  ministered  at  Egg 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


487 


Harbor,  Wisconsin,  fifteen  miles  from  Manasseh.  In  the  same 
month  preaching  was  commenced  in  a  chapel  at  Giflfords,  on 
Staten  Island,  overlooking  Great  Kills.  In  1878  Reusswig  vis- 
ited German  settlers  in  the  Red  River  valley  in  Dakota,  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  miles  from  Fargo,  and  the  rich  fertility  of  the 
wheat  producing  prairie  suggested  the  name  Goshen  for  the 
congregation  organized  in  May. 

Meanwhile  serious  trouble  was  arising.  The  summoning  of 
the  general  synod  for  the  year  1879  necessitated  preparatory 
synods  in  the  several  Provinces.  Early  in  1878  the  question  of 
the  time  and  place  of  convocation  was  discussed  in  The  Mora- 
vian. The  synod  at  Nazareth  had  accepted  an  invitation  to 
hold  its  next  session  at  Hope,  and  had  appointed  the  year  1879 
as  the  time.  But  since  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
synod  resided  in  the  East,  many  believed  that  the  cost  of  con- 
vening a  synod  at  Hope  would  be  materially  in  excess  of  the 
cost  of  meeting  in  the  East.  The  financial  condition  of  the 
Province  was  precarious.  Owing  to  the  panic  of  the  early 
seventies,  the  earnings  of  the  church  schools  in  recent  years 
had  materially  decreased,  seriously  aflFecting  the  general  status. 
Every  possible  curtailment  of  expense  seemed  desirable.  Before 
long  it  appeared  that  a  serious  difference  of  opinion  existed 
between  the  members  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  in 
regard  to  their  powers  in  relation  to  this  subject.  The  two 
members  residing  in  Pennsylvania  held  that  the  Proxancial 
Elders'  Conference  was  not  merely  the  executive  of  synod, 
bound  to  carry  out  its  resolutions  in  a  mechanical  way,  but  as 
well  the  directing  board  of  the  Province,  quaHfied  to  initiate 
measures,  or  in  an  emergency  to  disregard  formal  orders  of 
synod,  with  the  understanding  that  such  action  on  their  part 
must  be  reported  to  the  next  ensuing  synod  for  its  judgment. 
They  furthermore  took  the  ground  that  the  synod  of  Nazareth 
had  directed  that  the  regular  triennial  synod  should  be  held  at 
Hope ;  but  that  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  was  compe- 
tent to  determine  the  place  of  convocation  for  this  special  pre- 
paratory synod.  To  all  this  their  colleague  took  exception, 
and  the  congregation  at  Hope  insisted  upon  what  it  believed  to 
be  its  rights  in  the  matter.  Others  entered  into  the  contro- 
versy. Finally  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference. Decision  was  given,  that  the  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference had  the  right  to  convene  a  preparatory  synod  wherever 


488 


A  HISTORY  OF 


in  their  judgment  it  should  be  convened,  but  advised  that  the 
preparatory  synod  of  1878  be  convened  at  Hope ;  and  this  advice 
was  accepted,  that  the  Province  might  be  spared  the  cost  of  two 
synods  in  successive  years.  Synod,  in  session  from  October  9 
to  24,  with  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz  as  presiding  officer, 
accepted  the  principle  involved  in  the  decision  to  the  appeal, 
but  memorialized  the  general  synod  to  define  more  clearly  and 
specifically  the  several  rights,  privileges,  duties,  powers  and 
fesponsibiUties  of  Provincial  synods  arid  Provincial  Elders' 
Conferences,  and  their  relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference.  In  respect  to  the  constitution  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  the  following  amendments  were 
proposed  to  the  general  synod,  with  the  expression  of  a  desire 
that  a  separation  be  effected  between  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
frence  and  the  administrative  board  of  the  German  Province: 
I.  That  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  consist  of  seven  mem- 
bers, to  be  elected  by  the  general  synod  as  heretofore.  2.  That 
in  future  each  Province  be  directly  represented  in  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  by  at  least  one  member.  3.  That  when  a 
vacancy  occurs,  by  death  or  resignation  of  any  member  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  the  vacancy  be  filled  from  among 
the  ministers  of  that  Province  which  has  lost  a  representative, 
such  Province  to  make  nominations.  4.  That  in  the  actual  elec- 
tion to  fill  a  vacancy,  each  Province  shall  have  an  equal  number 
of  votes. 

In  connection  with  legislation  of  an  internal  character,  a 
schedule  of  general  collections  was  adopted  in  order  to  sys- 
tematize benevolence  and  statedly  meet  general  expenses.  The 
Provincial  Elders'  Conference  was  reconstituted,  five  members 
being  elected — Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  Henry  T.  Bachman, 
Henry  J.  Van  Vleck,  Eugene  Leibert  and  Herman  S.  Hoff- 
man— with  the  understanding  that  not  more  than  one  of  their 
number  should  receive  a  salary  as  such,  and  with  the  recom- 
mendation that  two  should  reside  west  of  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains. The  Church  Extension  Board  was  constituted  of  the 
Provincial  Elders'  Conference  together  with  C.  A.  Zoebisch, 
Nathanael  S.  WoUe,  Joseph  A.  Rice  and  Henry  S.  Rominger. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


489 


CHAPTER  LXI. 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  FROM  1869  TO  1879. 

Significant  of  the  place  which  the  missions  had  come  to 
assume  in  the  life  of  the  church  were  the  dedication  in  Septem- 
ber, 1871,  of  the  home  for  missionaries  on  furlough  at  Klein- 
welke,  in  Saxony,  erected  by  voluntary  gifts,  and  the  presenta- 
tion to  the  church  of  the  "Whitefield  House"  at  Nazareth,  in 
Pennsylvania,  designed  for  a  similar  purpose,  and  as  the  per- 
manent residence  of  retired  missionary  couples,  the  gift,  also 
in  1871,  of  John  Jordan,  jr.,  of  Philadelphia. 

Although  the  balance  sheet  presented  to  the  synod  of  1879 
disclosed  a  deficit  of  $23,570,  there  was  good  reason  to  thank 
God  and  take  courage.  To  thoughtful  minds  such  a  deficit 
emphasized  the  truth  that  the  task  of  evangeHzing  the  heathen 
world  is  and  must  remain  for  the  Brethren's  Church  a  work  of 
faith,  a  providential  provocation  to  renewed  fidelity  and  yet 
more  strenuous  effort.  This  conviction  was  deepened  by  the 
action  of  the  synod.  After  a  searching  investigation  it  declared 
that  the  causes  of  the  repeated  deficits  in  the  accounts  of  the 
foreign  missions  "lie  neither  in  defective  administration  at  home 
nor  in  inconsiderate  extension  in  the  field  itself.  They  rather 
lie  in  the  considerable  decrease  in  legacies  received,  and  especi- 
ally in  the  general  embarrassment  of  business  which  shows  itself 
in  a  decided  lowering  of  direct  contributions  and  in  the  lessen- 
ing of  the  profits  of  industries  carried  on  in  various  mission- 
provinces  in  behalf  of  the  work.  In  addition  larger  demands 
have  been  made  upon  the  mission  treasury  for  the  pensioning 
and  educational  accounts — and  here  the  administration  dare 
not  abridge." 

In  Greenland  it  had  been  a  very  trying  decade  for  Henry 
Kogel,  superintendent  since  1871,  and  for  his  associates. 
Despite  the  work  of  the  two  normal  schools,  at  New  Herrnhut 
and  Lichtenau,  very  little  advance  had  been  achieved  in  the 


490 


A  HISTORY  OF 


direction  of  self-dependence.  A  veritable  army  of  misfortunes, 
officered  by  influenza  and  pleurisy  and  other  diseases,  had  swept 
up  and  down  the  coast  in  the  winters  of  1871  to  1872  and  of 
1875  to  1876.  Poor  Friedrichsthal,  thus  far  the  largest  and 
richest  of  the  congregations,  had  especially  suffered.  Once  its 
four  hundred  and  sixty-nine  people  had  been  wont  to  bring  to 
the  Royal  Trading-post  one  thousand  three  hundred  barrels  of 
seal  oil  in  a  season.  After  the  disastrous  winter  of  1871  only 
eight  seal-catchers  were  left,  only  five  boats  could  be  manned, 
and  out  of  twenty-three  boys  in  the  school  only  three  had 
fathers  living.  Of  those  who  had  died  six  were  male  "helpers" 
and  five  female  "helpers,"  a  severe  loss  to  the  mission,  as  it  was 
not  easy  to  find  persons  suitably  qualified  for  the  position. 
Missionaries  and  traders  had  to  come  to  the  relief  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  in  a  most  liberal  manner. 

By  this  time  every  station  and  out-station  had  its  school. 
Every  child  connected  with  the  mission  acquired  the  ability  to 
at  least  read,  and  the  majority  also  to  write  and  to  cipher  as 
well  as  to  memorize  Biblical  history.  The  girls  learnt  sewing 
and  the  arts  of  feminine  handiwork. 

In  1871  a  new  and  revised  edition  of  the  Greenlandic  Scrip- 
ture History  was  issued,  and  in  1878  a  similarly  improved  edi- 
tion of  the  Hymn  Book.  In  1873  a  Catechism,  in  1876  a  song 
book  for  schools,  with  notes;  and  in  1877  and  1879  volumes  of 
sermons  for  the  use  of  "helpers''  at  the  out-stations,  were  wel- 
come additions  to  the  literature  of  the  language.  Kleinschmidt 
also  prepared  a  dictionary,  and  labored  at  a  revised  translation 
of  the  Scriptures. 

In  Labrador  extension  continued  to  be  the  goal.  The 
attempt  of  Samuel  Weitz  at  Nachvak  had  been  frustrated  by  a 
variety  of  circumstances,  and  the  house  erected  there  had  to  be 
temporarily  abandoned.  But  in  1871  the  determined  mis- 
sionary with  his  devoted  wife  and  Adolphus  Hlavatschek — the 
latter  to  superintend  the  trade — were  willing  to  go  once  more 
to  the  far  north.  They  selected  Nullatatok  Bay,  a  natural, 
land-locked  harbor,  sixty  miles  north  of  Hebron,  surrounded 
by  dizzy,  snow-capped  crags.  The  waters  of  the  bay  extend 
inland  about  four  miles,  and  the  entrance  is  almost  barred  by 
a  majestic  clifif  beetling  up  precipitously  a  thousand  feet  above 
the  surf.  A  beach  about  five  hundred  yards  long  by  three 
hundred  wide  forms  the  only  available  site  for  dwellings.  Here, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


491 


with  a  lake-like  expanse  of  blue  water  before  them,  the  mis- 
sionary part}'  speedily  put  up  the  little  one-roomed  house  which 
was  at  first  to  serve  as  residence,  school  and  church.  Later 
the  abandoned  dwelHng  at  Nachvak  should  be  removed  hither. 
Only  two  families  of  heathen  now  lived  at  Nullatatok.  But 
with  the  founding  of  Ramah,  as  they  named  the  new  post,  it 
was  hoped  that  in  time  the  nomadic  savages  would  be  induced 
to  cluster  here.  In  any  case  it  was  felt  to  be  the  true  way  to 
commemorate  a  mission  jubilee,  by  pushing  forward  into  the 
"regions  beyond."  On  October  11,  1875,  the  first  reward  of 
this  bold  faith  came  in  the  baptism  of  Kangersaut  (Boaz), 
Salome  and  Mary  and  two  children. 

For  Theodore  Bourquin,  superintendent  of  this  mission 
Province,  the  years  were  full  of  cares.  His  own  health  and 
that  of  his  wife  necessitated  a  return  to  Europe  for  a  furlough 
in  1871.  On  resuming  his  duties  he  was  compelled  to  deal  with 
a  very  difficult  situation.  This  arose  from  the  unavoidable  con- 
nection of  the  mission  with  trade.  From  almost  the  inception 
of  the  work  in  Labrador  this  had  been  carried  on  for  a  variety 
of  reasons — not  to  make  profits  as  a  main  purpose,  but  that 
the  comforts  and  sometimes  the  necessaries  of  life  might  be 
procured  by  the  natives  without  their  being  at  the  mercy  of 
conscienceless  speculators,  whose  transient  visits  moreover 
inevitably  produced  demoralizing  results,  and  that  the  effort  to 
advance  the  people  in  the  scale  of  civiHzation  might  be  facih- 
tated  by  their  being  furnished  an  opportunity  to  dispose  of  the 
products  of  their  industry  at  fair  rates.  Besides  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  vessel  afforded  the  mission  its  only  sure  connection 
with  Europe.  But  in  the  case  of  people  with  a  disposition  like 
that  of  the  Eskimo,  their  two-fold  relationship  to  the  Euro- 
peans as  their  religious  teachers  and  the  purveyors  of  their 
external  comforts,  afforded  occasion  for  misunderstandings  and 
mistrust.  In  seasons  of  scarcity  they  would  expect  to  obtain 
credit  at  the  stores,  and  humanity  compelled  the  granting  of 
supplies  to  refuse  which  would  mean  direst  want.  But  that 
obligations  thus  incurred  must  be  repaid  in  the  case  of  the  able- 
bodied  in  seasons  of  plenty,  was  a  conception  not  so  readily 
apprehended  or  assented  to  by  the  Eskimo.  The  difificulties 
which  thus  arose  led  to  a  complete  separation  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  temporal  administration  at  each  settlement  in 
the  year  1866.    Men  were  sent  out  from  Europe  or  henceforth 


492 


A  HISTORY  OF 


exclusively  charged  with  a  commission  to  act  as  traders,  to 
whom  no  spiritual  duties  were  assigned ;  and  henceforth  the 
missionaries  were  to  have  no  other  relationship  to  the  people 
than  that  involved  in  their  spiritual  office.  For  a  few  years  all 
went  well.  But  disaffection  did  not  wholly  cease.  Nor  did 
discontent  end  in  murmurings.  On  March  28,  1873,  when 
Charles  Adolphus  Slotta  was  busy  in  the  store  at  Okak,  a  man 
suddenly  and  without  warning  attacked  him  and  threw  him 
down.  The  natives  who  were  present  failed  to  interpose,  and 
ran  out.  No  serious  injury  was  inflicted.  The  store  was 
closed,  and  business  suspended,  until  the  culprit  voluntarily, 
withdrew  from  Okak  and  his  fellow  countrymen  besought  that 
it  might  be  reopened. 

Next  winter  there  was  scarcity  at  several  places — no  seals, 
very  few  foxes,  few  ptarmigans,  little  fresh  meat.  At  Nain 
influenza  appeared  in  autumn.  A  number  of  thefts  occurred, 
attributed  to  the  stringency  of  the  times.  WilHam  Haugk, 
the  store-keeper  shut  the  door,  and  put  up  the  shutters,  and 
declared  that  business  would  not  be  resumed  till  the  stolen  arti- 
cles had  been  returned.  This  measure  failed  of  the  desired 
effect,  but  led  to  the  holding  of  a  mass  meeting  by  the  Eskimos 
on  December  22.  It  lasted  for  three  hours  and  was  tumultuous 
in  the  extreme.  Even  the  "helpers"  acted  with  the  turbulent. 
Happily  the  celebration  of  Christmas  brought  most  of  the  law- 
less to  their  senses ;  many  of  them  expressed  their  penitence, 
and  the  way  was  now  open  for  negotiations  looking  toward  a 
readjustment  of  affairs  by  Samuel  Bindschedler,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  trade  and  chief  agent  of  the  Society  for  Propa- 
gating the  Gospel.  Reconciliation  was  effected.  The  celebra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Communion  on  January  17  was  characterized 
by  deep  solemnity.  But  alas !  the  feelings  of  the  natives  carried 
them  into  fanaticism  and  worse.  Such  an  outburst  took  place 
a  few  days  later  as  would  have  been  thought  impossible  in  the 
case  of  the  phlegmatic  Eskimos.  The  ringleader  in  what  fol- 
lowed was  the  man  who  had  been  most  outspoken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  lawlessness  of  December.  At  an  assembly  held 
in  the  house  of  this  man  an  actual  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  claimed  to  have  been  experienced.  "A  post  in  the  house 
was  worshipped  as  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  the  Eskimos  were 
fetched  in  from  neighboring  houses  that  they  might  kneel  before 
it.    The  leaders  then  breathed  upon  their  hands  folded  on  their 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


493 


breasts,  thus  imparting  to  them  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  also  travestied."  Next  day  the 
missionaries  had  to  rescue  a  woman  from  the  murderous 
assault  of  her  husband,  who  was  deluded  with  the  belief  that 
she  was  possessed  by  a  devil.  It  was  a  critical  hour  for  the 
mission  at  Okak.  But  God  heard  his  servants'  prayers.  The 
extravagances  vanished  as  suddenly  as  they  had  appeared. 
Further  disturbances  were  attempted  by  the  ringleader  in  the 
trouble,  but  his  former  associates  silenced  him.  A  welcome 
calm  ensued. 

All  these  experiences  rendered  a  visit  by  a  number  of  the 
Mission  Board  desirable.  Bishop  Levin  Theodore  Reichel,  in 
spite  of  his  weight  of  years,  undertook  the  delicate  task,  being 
especially  qualified  by  his  former  visit  to  Labrador.  His  eflforts 
during  the  summer  of  1876  were  instrumental  in  restoring  confi- 
dence on  the  part  of  the  people,  whom  he  exhorted  to  sobriety 
in  thought  and  act,  to  careful  thrift  and  diligence.  The  regu- 
lations with  reference  to  the  trade  were  revised,  with  a  partial 
return  to  the  arrangements  which  obtained  prior  to  1866. 

The  visitor  was  gratified  to  observe  signs  of  advance  in  civili- 
zation during  the  period  since  his  former  coming  to  Labrador. 
Two  stations  had  been  added.  At  the  various  missions  the  old 
sod-huts  were  disappearing,  log  houses  taking  their  place. 
Neatness  and  order  appeared  within.  Hunting  was  on  the 
decHne,  but  fishing  was  improving.  Skin-canoes  were  being 
replaced  by  fishing-smacks.  The  number  of  dogs,  the  all  im- 
portant means  of  transportation  in  winter,  had  more  than 
trebled.  Family  Hfe  supplanted  the  ancient  herding  of  the 
people  in  the  overcrowded  hovels  of  former  days.  Education 
was  making  progress,  and  natives  were  able  to  serve  as  school- 
masters. All  this  rendered  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures 
the  more  opportune.  Thanks  to  aid  given  by  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  Erdmann's  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament  from  Joshua  to  the  Song  of  Solomon  had  been 
issued  in  1870  and  1871 ;  and  Bourquin's  revision  of  the  Eskimo 
New  Testament  came  out  in  1878.  Besides  a  Catechism  and  a 
revised  edition  of  the  Hymn-book  and  a  text-book  for  instruc- 
tion in  geography  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 

Amongst  the  important  transactions  of  the  general  synod  of 
1869  not  the  least  important  had  been  the  series  of  resolutions 
to  provide  for  the  gradual  emergence  of  the  West  Indian  con- 


494 


A  HISTORY  OF 


gregations  from  the  status  of  missions,  so  that  they  might  con- 
stitute a  fourth  federated  province  of  the  Brethren's  Unity. 
Loyally  the  missionaries  and  their  people  accepted  and  re- 
sponded to  the  demands  thus  made  upon  them  by  the  church. 
Yet  neither  well-informed  observers,  nor  the  workers  in  the 
field  itself  overlooked  the  fact,  that  islands  where  considerable 
illiteracy,  the  superstitions  of  Africa,  the  dark  practices  of 
obeahism  and  poisoning  and  very  lax  conceptions  of  personal 
morality  still  abounded  could  not  be  spoken  of  in  the  same 
breath  with  lands  where  inherited  tendencies  of  generations, 
that  had  known  nothing  else  than  the  Christian  standard  of 
ethics  and  that  had  enjoyed  ample  faciUties  for  enlightenment, 
made  for  at  least  the  appearance  of  godliness  as  persistently  as 
the  W'est  Indian  environment  made  for  the  contrary.  In  one 
sense  the  West  Indies  must  remain  mission  ground  for  decades, 
even  though  no  longer  a  field  for  missions  exclusively  amongst 
utter  pagans. 

Providential  circumstances  interfered  sorely  with  the  solution 
of  the  financial  problem  of  self-support,  particularly  in  the 
Eastern  islands.  Retrogression  in  the  general  economic  con- 
dition was  produced  by  earthquakes  and  tornadoes — Antigua 
and  St.  Thomas,  for  example,  experiencing  a  hurricane  in 
August,  1 8/ 1,  which  involved  a  loss  of  $10,000  to  mission  prop- 
erty, and  damage  to  sugar  estates  from  which  it  took  years  to 
recover — protracted  and  repeated  seasons  of  drought  that 
caused  abandonment  of  estates  now  become  unproductive,  with 
lack  of  employment  for  very  many. 

Nevertheless  steps  were  taken  towards  self-dependence.  One 
important  measure  was  the  founding  of  a  theological  seminary 
at  Fairfield,  in  Jamaica,  in  1876.  Walter  L.  G.  Badham,  at  the 
same  time  Principal  of  the  normal  school,  took  charge.  A 
two  years'  course  of  studies  was  pursued.  The  normal  school 
for  females  at  Bethabara,  and  its  counterpart  in  St.  John's,  An- 
tigua, continued  to  render  valuable  services.  That  for  young 
men  at  Cedar  Hall,  on  the  other  hand,  was  abandoned  in  1871. 
The  Mico  Institution  was  open  to  members  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  its  excellent  equipment  rendered  it  needless  to  main- 
tain the  similar  school  of  the  church. 

In  1872  Abraham  Lichtenthaeler  retired  from  active  service. 
He  was  succeeded  as  superintendent  in  Jamaica  by  Edwin  E. 
Reinke.      In  the  same  year  the  venerable  Bishop  Westerby 


GEORGE    WALL  WESTERBY. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


495 


closed  his  long  period  of  oversight  in  Antigua — thirty-eight 
years. 

The  migration  of  West  Indians  to  Demerara  now  caused  an 
extension  of  the  missionary  activity  to  this  South  American 
colony.  The  proprietor  of  the  extensive  Bel  Air  estate,  Mr. 
Quintin  Hogg,  well  known  for  his  philanthropy  in  connection 
with  the  Polytechnic  Institute  in  London,  desired  the  services 
of  a  Moravian  missionary  for  his  employes,  and  offered  to  pro- 
vide the  salaries  of  a  missionary  and  of  an  assistant,  who  should 
serve  as  school-master,  for  five  years.  After  visits  by  Henry 
Moore,  a  native  minister  in  Barbados,  in  company  with  the 
superintendent  of  the  mission  on  that  island,  James  Y.  Edgehill, 
the  of¥er  was  accepted.  In  October,  1878,  Moore,  with  Alex- 
ander Pilgrim  as  his  assistant,  left  for  Georgetown.  Services 
were  commenced  early  in  November  at  Cumming's  Lodge. 

In  addition  to  the  direct  opposition  of  the  "sukias"  and  the 
difficulties  inseparable  from  missionary  effort  amongst  nomadic 
savages  of  the  tropics,  on  the  Moskito  coast  indirect  hindrances 
were  now  caused  by  the  uncertain  political  status  of  the  country. 
Enlarging  intercourse  with  traders,  who  exchanged  gin  and  rum 
and  brandy  for  the  valuable  india-rubber  of  the  Indians,  further 
ministered  to  the  positive  corruption  of  many. 

Fevers  are  never  wholly  absent  from  this  swampy  tropical 
land.  Hence  changes  in  personnel  were  frequent,  and  were  the 
more  unfortunate  since  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  Moskito  syn- 
tax and  of  the  Indian  love  of  metaphors  could  not  be  acquired 
in  a  day.  It  was  this  partial  lack  of  men  which  measurably 
accounted  for  the  abandonment  of  Joppa,  on  Corn  Island,  in 
1871.  Its  few  people  had  gladly  looked  to  the  missionaries  for 
medical  aid,  but  manifested  marked  indifference  to  their  mes- 
sage. On  the  more  populous  mainland  the  readiness  to  receive 
the  word  claimed  the  services  of  all  available  men.  Yet  Corn 
Island  was  not  altogether  deserted.  In  the  same  year  in  which 
Joppa  was  given  up,  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall,  from  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, came  to  the  Moskito  Coast  to  do  missionary  work,  and 
settled  at  Quamwatla,  a  small  village  on  the  shore  of  a  little 
lake  drained  by  a  tributary  of  Prince  Apolka  River,  and  about 
half  way  between  Pearl  Key  and  Ephrata.  Within  less  than 
one  month  Mr.  Hall  died.  His  widow  first  removed  to  Ephrata. 
Next  year  she  took  pity  on  the  forsaken  condition  of  Corn 
Island,  and  removed  thither  to  commence  a  school.    Here  her 


496 


A  HISTORY  OF 


labors  were  not  appreciated  as  they  deserved.  Her  health  gave 
way  under  the  strain.  She  was  reluctantly  compelled  to  return 
to  England  in  1875.  But  the  memory  of  that  lonely  grave  at 
Quamwatla  led  her  to  present  the  sum  of  $5,000  to  the  Mission 
Board  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  station  on  the  Moskito 
Coast.  This  gift  was  used  for  the  permanent  founding  of 
Karata  on  the  Wawa  River,  north  of  Ephrata,  which  Frederick 
Smith,  a  graduate  of  the  normal  school  in  Jamaica,  had  just 
commenced  as  a  filial.  Another  out-station  had  also  been  com- 
menced, Kukallaya,  across  the  lagoon  west  of  Ephrata  and  some 
distance  inland,  the  fruit  of  the  labor  of  Peter  Blair,  who  had 
removed  thither  in  1871.  Here  a  village  of  about  three  hun- 
dred Indians  clustered  along  the  banks  of  a  small  stream. 

Experience  had  taught  the  need  of  a  staunch  Httle  vessel  for 
communication  from  station  to  station  along  this  coast,  but  the 
third  "Messenger  of  Peace"  became  unseaworthy  after  only  five 
years  of  service.  In  June,  1874,  moreover  the  Httle  "Meta,"  her 
predecessor,  was  driven  ashore  near  Greytown  and  dashed  to 
pieces.  In  response  to  a  new  appeal  the  keel  of  the  "Herald," 
a  trim  little  schooner  of  forty  tons,  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  was 
laid  in  the  ship-yards  at  Shoreham,  and  in  September,  1875,  she 
cast  anchor  in  the  lagoon  at  Bluefields.  But  on  the  night  of 
October  2  and  3  of  the  following  year  a  mighty  hurricane  swept 
the  Moskito  Coast.  Bluefields,  Magdala,  Rama  and  Bethany 
each  suffered  severely.  During  the  tornado  the  "Herald"  was 
in  imminent  danger.  A  vessel  riding  at  anchor  beside  her  in 
the  harbor  at  Bluefields  went  down  with  several  on  board.  She 
was  then  driven  into  the  mangrove  swamps  lining  the  lagoon. 
Here  she  lay  sheltered,  and  suffered  no  material  injury.  Had 
she  not  been  spared  to  transport  provisions  to  the  stations 
which  were  now  threatened  with  famine  from  the  destruction 
of  their  banana  groves  and  provision  grounds  and  from  a  plague 
of  locusts  and  grasshoppers  that  followed,  the  consequences  of 
the  storm  might  have  been  disastrous  for  the  mission. 

Surinam  even  more  than  the  Moskito  Coast  experienced 
changes  in  personnel  during  these  ten  years.  Theophilus  van 
Calker  had  been  appointed  Director  of  the  school  for  the  sons 
of  missionaries  at  Kleinwelke  after  the  synod  of  1869.  His  suc- 
cessor, Theodore  Enkelmann,  had  scarcely  become  accustomed 
to  his  duties  as  superintendent,  when  he  was  compelled  to  retire 
owing  to  a  painful  malady,  and  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1870.  Her- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


497 


man  Clemens,  the  next  in  charge,  died  at  Salem  on  the  Coronie 
in  1872.  Now  Eugene  Langerfeld  stepped  into  the  breach. 
Moreover,  seven  other  brethren  and  ten  sisters  of  the  mis- 
sionary force  died  during  the  period,  and  ten  brethren  and  six- 
teen sisters  were  compelled  to  retire  from  active  service  on 
account  of  age  or  sickness. 

With  it  all  the  era  was  a  critical  one  for  the  mission  from 
another  cause.  Final  and  complete  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
went  into  effect  on  July  i,  1873,  the  period  of  apprenticeship 
having  come  to  an  end.  Government  no  longer  exercised  con- 
trol over  contracts  for  labor.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  bless- 
ing of  liberty  would  be  abused  in  some  cases,  and  that  removals 
of  the  people  hither  and  thither  until  new  adjustments  had  been 
made,  would  sever  ties  that  had  bound  many  to  the  mission  and 
to  restraining  influences  as  regards  their  morals.  Immorality 
at  times  became  the  product  of  a  liberty  that  degenerated  into 
license.  In  other  cases  the  ambitious  aped  after  "quality,"  and 
mistook  glittter  for  worth.  The  tendency  which  ever  drives 
labor  to  the  large  cities  in  the  hope  of  easier  or  more  remunera- 
tive work  came  into  full  play.  On  many  estates  the  planters 
began  to  feel  the  lack  of  men.  This  led  to  the  importation  of 
Chinese  and  of  Coolies,  whose  heathenism  exercised  a  deprav- 
ing influence  on  the  blacks.  Efforts  were  forthwith  set  on  foot 
to  carry  the  war  into  the  very  camp  of  the  new  paganism ;  but 
the  barrier  of  language  could  not  at  once  be  overcome.  Small 
wonder  that  in  the  ten  years  the  numbers  of  the  mission  fell 
from  24,156  to  21,636. 

In  the  educational  system  of  the  Colony  the  mission  began 
to  play  a  more  important  part  than  ever.  The  normal  school 
at  Paramaribo  continued  to  supply  well  qualified  native  teachers. 
Governmental  examinations  tended  to  raise  the  standard,  and 
the  Director  himself  was  required  to  have  passed  a  pedagogic 
examination  in  Holland.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1878  the 
scholars  enrolled  in  the  day-schools  of  the  mission  numbered 
7,269.  Thanks  to  the  liberality  of  the  missionary  society  in 
Zeist,  since  1875  the  scope  of  this  branch  of  activity  had  been 
widened  by  the  establishment  of  a  primary  school  in  the  city. 
It  soon  reached  an  attendance  of  150. 

But  whilst  the  congregation  in  Paramaribo  and  those  on  the 
estates  occasioned  grave  solicitude  during  the  period  of  transi- 
tion, new  life  appeared  in  the  Bush  Country.  On  the  Surinam 
33 


498 


A  HISTORY  OF 


River,  just  north  of  the  fifth  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  due 
east  of  Maripastoon,  Hes  Berg-en-dal.  This  is  a  timber-produc- 
ing estate,  which  the  church  purchased  in  1870,  being  at  a 
convenient  distance  from  Gansee,  Victoria  and  CofTycamp. 
At  this  point  the  river  curves  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  harbor. 
On  the  lofty  bank  of  the  stream,  and  approached  by  a  flight  of 
steps  is  the  solidly  built  "great  house"  of  the  estate,  seventy 
years  old  but  as  serviceable  as  if  new — one  story  in  height  and 
fifty-five  feet  by  twenty  in  dimensions.  In  the  rear  towers  up 
the  steep  hill  which  gives  the  place  its  name.  Eighty  houses 
clustering  among  the  mango  trees  along  the  bank  constitute 
the  village  of  the  negroes  whose  thrift  is  instanced  by  the  fifty 
or  sixty  boats  or  corials  usually  moored  in  the  stream.  Here 
in  the  olden  "great  house"  the  missionary  Lehmann  makes  his 
home  in  April,  1870,  with  David  Peter  Iveraar,  the  son  of  the 
helper  Thomas  of  Gansee  and  a  graduate  of  the  normal  school, 
as  school-master.  At  Gansee  also  a  church  could  be  opened  on 
September  30,  and  before  long  a  house  was  erected  and  pro- 
vision made  for  a  resident  missionary. 

In  happy  contrast  to  the  perplexities  of  Surinam  South  Africa 
now  presents  in  the  main  signs  of  advance  both  in  externals  and 
in  the  inner  life.  In  general  there  is  peace  throughout  the 
decade,  and  missionary  labor  moves  on  harmoniously. 

In  the  Western  Province,  the  division  having  been  eflfected  in 
accordance  with  the  resolution  of  the  synod  of  1869,  William 
Theodore  Bauer  succeeded  Ferdinand  Bechler  as  superinten- 
dent upon  his  election  as  a  member  of  the  Department  of  Mis- 
sions in  1874.  Special  attention  was  paid  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
normal  school  at  Genadendal.  Examinations  by  government 
inspectors  reflected  special  credit  upon  Ballein  and  Zachert,  the 
missionaries  in  charge.  Seven  of  the  thirty-one  students  whose 
preparation  was  completed  during  the  present  decade  were 
members  of  the  Reformed  Church  or  of  the  Berlin  Mission. 
Thus  the  Moravian  Church  was  permitted  to  contribute  to  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  Africa's  evangeHzation  beyond  the 
bounds  of  her  own  mission  fields. 

The  development  of  the  railroad  system  of  the  Colony  now 
afforded  abundant  employment  to  the  members  of  several  con- 
gregations. But  with  this  advantage  evils  were  combined — 
the  temporary  removal  from  the  wholesome  influences  of 
the  religious  life  of  the  mission  stations,  contact  with  irreligious 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


499 


whites  and  temptations  to  fall  into  drinking  habits,  for  canteens 
sprang  up  like  mushrooms  in  the  vicinity  of  the  camps  of  the 
laborers.  Yet  much  transpired  at  the  mission  centers  them- 
selves to  vi^arrant  the  hope  that  growth  in  grace  was  permanent 
and  deep.  Mamre,  distinguished  as  the  point  of  extension  in 
the  Western  Province  through  the  establishment  of  its  filial, 
Johanneskerk  or  Pella,  especially  enjoyed  a  deepening  of  its 
religious  life.  At  Elim  an  awakening  amongst  the  school-child- 
ren in  1876  gave  promise  of  a  bright  future.  The  churches  at 
Enon  and  Clarkson  were  enlarged  in  1870  and  1871,  and  a  new 
church  built  at  SnykHp,  and  new  schools  at  Mamre  and  Elim, 
without  drawing  upon  the  mission  treasury. 

Theodore  Weitz  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  newly 
organized  ''Eastern  Province,"  with  headquarters  at  Shiloh. 
Extension  of  labor  amongst  the  "red"  Kaffirs  called  forth  all 
energy.  The  Kei  River  now  formed  the  boundary  between 
British  and  Independent  Kaffraria.  The  natural  features  of  the 
latter  region  were  striking.  '"Consisting  farthest  from  the  sea 
of  lofty  plains  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sturm  and  Draken  ranges,  the 
ground  is  hilly  and  undulating  nearer  the  coast,  being  inter- 
sected by  the  picturesque  and  well-wooded  Amatola  range  and 
its  spurs,  which  have  been  described  as  the  home  of  the  Kaffirs, 
and  have  always  formed  their  chief  stronghold  in  their  wars 
with  the  Colony.  The  climate  is  healthy,  and  the  soil  in  the 
well-watered  regions  wonderfully  fertile.  Snow  at  times  covers 
the  higher  mountains,  and  appears  occasionally  for  a  very  brief 
period  in  the  plains.  The  heavy  rainfalls  during  the  winter 
months  are  often  very  destructive,  and  cause  delay  and  peril 
to  the  traveler.  The  elephants,  quaggas,  zebras  and  many 
other  kinds  of  antelopes,  which  were  common  here  not  many 
years  since,  have  begun  to  disappear  from  most  parts  of  the 
country  before  the  advance  of  civiHzation."  Here  a  still  power- 
ful people,  numbering  about  three  hundred  thousand,  were 
massed  in  four  chief  tribes.  Physically  resembling  the  Cau- 
casian rather  than  the  Negro  or  the  Hottentot,  with  brown 
skin,  however,  and  woolly  hair,  the  Kaffir  was  a  born  warrior. 
His  importance  was  reckoned  by  the  number  of  his  cattle  and 
of  his  wives.  In  number  the  latter  were  limited  only  by  his 
ability  to  purchase.  His  mental  capacity  was  higher  than  his 
moral  qualities.  Theft  and  lying  were  not  esteemed  disgraceful 
as  means  to  an  end.    Lighthearted  and  cheerful,  sociable  and 


500 


A  HISTORY  OF 


hospitable,  he  was  amiable  so  long  as  his  will  was  not  crossed; 
but  then  capable  of  snclden  passion,  he  could  combine  ferocity 
and  cruelty.  His  religion  was  a  compound  of  atheism  and 
superstition.  His  witch-doctors  possessed  even  greater  power 
than  his  chiefs.  The  "umhlaJdo,"  or  smeUing  dance  gave  them 
good  opportunity  for  exercising  their  cunning — certain  mum- 
meries by  the  aid  of  which  it  was  pretended  that  they  could 
smell  out  persons  guilty  of  having  inflicted  sickness  or  misfor- 
tune on  any  individual  through  uncanny  means.  The  most 
frightful  tortures  were  meted  out  to  the  victims  designated  by 
spite  or  envy.  Stretched  out  upon  the  ground  with  arms  and 
legs  extended,  and  hands  and  feet  pinned  to  the  earth  by  sharp 
stakes,  ants  of  a  peculiar  kind,  whose  bite  was  very  painful, 
were  shaken  all  over  them  to  torment  them  by  creeping  into  eyes, 
nose,  ears  and  mouth,  besides  stinging  all  over  the  naked  body. 
Finally  fires  were  kindled  so  as  to  slowly  roast  them  to  death. 
Amongst  their  religious  rites,  circumcision  had  a  place,  and 
was  attended  with  licentious  abominations.  Kaffir  corn,  from 
which  beer  was  malted,  maize,  melons,  and  tobacco  were  cul- 
tivated by  the  women.  Primitive  industries,  like  tanning,  pipe- 
making,  blacksmithing  and  basket-weaving  and  pottery,  were 
somewhat  practiced.  Feudal  and  patriarchal  features  combined 
to  characterize  their  mode  of  government.  "The  hereditary 
head  of  a  tribe  (ukuinkani)  had  under  him  several  minor  chiefs 
(inkosi),  whose  dignity  was  also  hereditary.  The  "ukiimkani" 
decided  questions  of  peace  or  war,  and  settled  disputes  amongst 
his  subordinate  rulers ;  but  each  of  the  latter  had  full  authority 
over  the  people  in  his  own  district,  subject  only  to  the  advice 
and  control  of  his  councillors  (ampakati).  The  "inkosi"  is 
appealed  to  lor  help  by  the  poor,  and  as  the  father  of  his  people 
is  expected  to  give  what  is  needed,  a  cow,  or  a  sheep,  or  a 
"kaross."  If  it  were  not  for  the  many  fines  imposed  on  trans- 
gressors, the  herds  and  possessions  of  many  an  "inkosi"  would 
rather  dwindle.  Generally  speaking,  the  "inkosi''  was  endowed 
with  sufficient  business  capacity  to  make  the  dignity  he 
he  held  afiford  him  a  .fair  pecuniary  return.  In  all  judicial 
proceedings,  which  were  conducted  with  a  certain  degree  of 
dignity,  the  accused  was  considered  guilty,  until  he  had  proved 
his  innocence ;  if  the  "i)tkosi"  was  the  accuser,  he  was  almost 
sure  to  be  condemned.  Murder  was  punished  with  death,  all 
other  crimes  with  fines  in  cattle,  a  penalty  which  the  Kaffir 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


501 


called  being  "eaten  up."  The  nearest  relatives  of  the  con- 
demned were  expected  to  contribute,  if  a  man  was  unable  to 
pay  the  full  amount  of  the  inflicted  fine.  From  early  years  their 
laws  were  a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  the  natives,  which  they 
delighted  in  discussing;  in  this  occupation  they  often  displayed 
a  striking  degree  of  those  qualities  which  distinguish  a  lawyer." 

In  Independent  Kaf¥raria  there  still  remained  a  wide  field  for 
pioneer  activity,  and  Baziya  here  formed  a  point  of  vantage  for 
the  future  extension  of  the  Moravian  mission.  When  there- 
fore repeated  requests  for  a  missionary  were  presented  at  Shiloh 
fi-om  Zibi,  chief  of  the  Amahlubi,  and  a  vassal  of  the  great  chief 
Ngangelizwe,  it  was  recognized  as  a  providential  call.  Hart- 
mann  of  Goshen  and  Richard  Baur  of  Baziya  made  a  tour  of 
reconnaissance  by  ox-wagon  in  April  and  May,  i860.  But 
meanwhile  the  settlement  of  various  territorial  disputes  through 
the  mediation  of  the  governor  of  British  Kafifraria  had  involved 
the  removal  of  Zibi  from  the  border  country  near  Shiloh,  to 
Nomansland,  a  district  bounded  by  the  Draken  Mountains  and 
the  rivers  Tina  and  Xinixa  being  apportioned  to  his  Hlubis  and 
to  Lubenya's  Basutos.  The  tour  of  exploration  resulted  in  the 
calling  of  Henry  Meyer  of  Engotini,  to  establish  a  mission 
in  the  new  home  of  the  Hlubis,  with  Samuel  Mazwi  as  his  assist- 
ant. In  the  early  part  of  November  the  veteran,  by  this  time 
an  accomplished  Kaffir  linguist,  made  a  lonely  journey  of  a 
week  through  the  trackless  wilderness,  accompanied  only  by- 
two  Christian  Katifirs.  The  chief  himself  was  not  at  home ;  but 
his  vvife  accorded  a  cordial  welcome  at  Ezincuka  (i.  e.  among 
the  wolves),  amid  the  sandstone  crags  of  the  Draken,  where 
the  primitive  shelter  of  a  cave  whose  front  had  been  walled  up, 
afforded  the  missionary  a  temporary  home.  Though  the  place 
was  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  Engotini  and  seventy- 
five  miles  from  the  nearest  white  man,  and  four  days'  journey 
on  horseback  distant  from  the  nearest  point  whence  a  letter 
might  be  despatched,  he  determined  to  bring  his  wife  and  child- 
ren hither.  In  the  spring  of  1870  they  set  out.  Three  weeks 
of  exhausting  travel  compelled  her  and  their  four  children  Lo 
remain  at  the  English  mission  of  St.  Augustine.  No  wagon 
had  ever  crossed  the  mountains.  There  was  no  path.  At  one 
impassable  spot  a  road  had  to  be  broken  with  the  help  of  Zibi's 
men.  When  Meyer  reached  his  kraal,  one  of  the  innumerable 
Kaffir  wars  had  broken  out.    IMeyer  must  hasten  from  chief  to 


502 


A  HISTORY  OF 


chief  to  endeavor  to  make  peace.  Under  the  circumstances 
Ezincuka  was  tmtenable.  But  he  would  not  retreat.  Some- 
what to  the  northwest,  in  a  central  position  between  five  mutu- 
ally hostile  heathen  tribes,  but  with  the  full  consent  of  the  local 
chief,  Lehanna,  who  claimed  jurisdiction,  he  drove  the  first 
stake  of  the  new  station — Emtumasi.  His  house  was  built  high 
up  amid  the  rocks,  for  safety.  Then  he  returned  for  his  wife. 
Their  trip  was  thrillingly  perilous.  Hostile  marauders  all 
arotmd,  once  their  wagon  upset.  A  fall  of  snow  on  the  moun- 
tains drove  them  for  shelter  within  a  smoky  Kaffir  hut,  without 
window  or  chimney.  Sixteen  days  they  tarried  here.  But  it 
was  not  lost  time.  Some  of  the  people  were  found  to  have 
formerly  lived  at  Shiloh.  The  enforced  halt  brought  them  a 
gracious  opportunity  to  hear  God's  Word  daily.  At  last  Emtu- 
masi was  reached,  and  the  work  of  evangelization  commenced. 
As  many  as  fifty  dusky  warriors  sought  the  missionary's  minis- 
trations. But  scarcely  were  hopes  awakened  when  muttering 
thunders  of  strife  rolled  around  the  mountains.  Assegais 
gleamed.  Zibi  was  on  his  defence.  Lehanna  scoured  the  coun- 
try. Provisions  were  scarce.  The  cattle  of  the  mission  were 
stolen.  Once  during  this  time  of  terrible  anxiety  Meyer  was 
compelled  to  be  absent  at  Shiloh,  securing  provisions,  and  con- 
veying word  to  the  colonial  authorities  respecting  the  state  of 
af¥airs.  The  wife  and  children  are  indeed  "among  the  wolves." 
Swollen  rivers  detained  the  husband  for  weeks.  Fuel  failed  at 
Emtumasi.  The  lonely  woman  and  children  must  search  for 
miles  for  brushwood  and  dry  grass.  Their  candles  gave  out, 
and  the  evenings  and  nights  were  long.  Then  cruel  Lehanna 
came  and  boasted  of  the  Basuto  missions  which  he  had  plund- 
ered. Two  of  the  children  were  seized  with  typhus  fever.  But 
God  was  merciful.  They  recovered,  and  the  husband  rejoined 
her  in  her  extremity.  It  was  just  in  time.  Presently  clouds 
of  smoke  ascended  from  Zibi's  kraal.  Lehanna's  threats  seemed 
about  to  be  verified,  for  Zibi's  men  were  scattered  to  the  cran- 
nies of  the  mountains.  On  the  heights  above  the  mission  the 
Basuto  yells  rang  out,  and  the  hills  echoed  with  the  fierce  beat 
of  spears  on  shields.  But  God  was  merciful.  For  some 
unknown  reason  the  foes  drew  off. 

Then  followed  two  years  of  utter  solitude.  The  chieftain  who 
had  invited  Meyer  to  Nomansland  did  not  dare  to  show  his  face. 
But  Meyer  faithfully  sought  out  the  hiding  places  of  Zibi's  men, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  503 

and  their  hearts  were  somewhat  softened  by  distress.  More- 
over his  energetic  representations  to  the  British  commissioner 
proved  a  factor  in  hastening  the  restoration  of  peace. 

Now  came  reward.  For  Zibi  and  his  men  it  was  good  to 
have  been  afflicted.  A  hunger  for  the  Word  and  for  enlighten- 
ment arose.  The  assegais  were  gladly  laid  down  and  primers 
and  spelling-books  taken  in  hand.  A  Httle  village  sprang  up 
beside  the  mission  house.  By  August,  1873,  thirteen  converts 
met  around  the  Lord's  table,  and  nine  candidates  desired  bap- 
tism. Out-stations  were  soon  required.  The  cry  ''What  must 
I  do  to  be  saved?"  passed  from  kraal  to  kraal.  On  Sunday 
crowds  came  from  far  and  near,  no  longer  smeared  with  war 
paint,  no  longer  in  nakedness  and  filth,  but  clean  and  clothed. 

Ludini,  Zibi's  uncle,  was  a  dignified  old  man,  somewhat 
laconic,  but  apt  to  speak  to  the  point.  Now  he  repeatedly  put 
one  question  to  Meyer,  at  each  visit,  "Where  is  my  teacher?" 
His  people  also  desired  to  learn  of  Christ.  Their  appeal  could 
not  be  set  aside.  Building  operations  were  therefore  com- 
menced at  this  new  point,  twenty-seven  miles  away ;  but  the 
money  at  the  disposal  of  the  missionary  was  soon  exhausted. 
Yet  Meyer  was  not  downcast.  Gathering  his  Emtumasi  Chris- 
tians, he  and  they  prayed  for  means  to  complete  what  had  been 
begun  for  Ludini.  The  very  next  day  a  letter  from  America 
brought  a  sum  which  sufficed  to  complete  the  mission  house; 
and  so  they  called  it  "Elokulweni" — i.  e.,  in  faith.  Thither  the 
Meyers  removed,  native  Brethren  taking  care  of  Emtumasi  and 
its  two  filials,  Tinana  and  Mvenyane,  until  missionaries  could 
come  to  the  help  of  the  pioneer.  For  he  needed  relief.  Over- 
work, anxieties,  exposure,  and  in  addition  to  all  a  painful  tumor 
in  the  left  shoulder  rendered  a  furlough  absolutely  necessary. 
Nevertheless  he  was  indefatigable  in  pastoral  visits  and  evan- 
gelistic labors.  But  at  last  he  must  bid  farewell  to  his  children 
in  the  faith.  On  January  6,  1876,  he  turned  away  from  the 
Draken  Mountains,  and  from  the  four  mission  stations  planted 
by  him  in  a  heathen  land.  In  London  and  in  Holland  he 
kindled  large  audiences  by  his  enthusiasm  in  spite  of  pain.  But 
medical  experts  assured  him  that  an  operation  was  his  only 
hope.  This  was  attempted  in  Marburg.  Only  beside  his  bed 
was  his  family  circle  ever  fully  complete  on  earth — a  typical 
missionary  family  in  this.  In  the  wanderings  of  his  delirium 
he  was  even  yet  with  his  Kaffirs.    Their  tongue  had  banished 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  speech  of  his  boyhood.  And  so,  in  fancy  still  at  his  post, 
Meyer  embraced  his  wife  for  the  last  time,  and  whispered  the 
name  of  their  youngest  son  and  of  the  Saviour,  and  passed  to 
reward,  not  quite  fifty  years  of  age. 

Elukolweni  and  Mvenyane  were  in  charge  of  Alvin  Richter; 
at  Tinana  Otto  Padel  was  stationed,  whilst  Emtumasi  was 
entrusted  to  John  Nakin,  the  efficient  native  assistant.  And  in 
the  following  years  each  steadily  advanced. 

Meanwhile,  another  "iukosi,"  Stokwe,  a  Tambooki  living 
abovit  halfway  between  Shiloh  and  Baziya,  had  requested  that 
a  missionary  be  sent  to  him.  John  Henry  Hartmann,  together 
with  Paul  Gwazela  of  Goshen  were  dispatched,  and  so  in  1874 
Entwanazana  was  founded  on  the  Umtata  River. 

But  now  perplexities  thickened.  The  result  of  many  nego- 
tiations for  a  grant  of  land  at  Emtumasi,  adjudged  by  the  com- 
missioners to  be  within  the  sphere  of  Lubenya,  the  Basuto  chief, 
was  a  refusal  on  his  part.  Moreover  his  vassals  persisted  in 
regarding  the  work  of  the  mission  there  from  a  tribal  stand- 
point. For  them  to  join  a  Hlubi  organization  would  be  dis- 
loyalty. Therefore  a  reluctant  withdrawal  of  the  missionary 
for  a  season  seemed  to  be  the  only  alternative.  In  addition 
rumors  of  a  coming  Kaffir  war,  to  be  of  dimensions  far  exceed- 
ing any  preceding  one,  filled  the  air.  Guns  and  rifles  with  bayo- 
nets found  a  ready  sale  in  frontier  settlements.  Soon  after 
Christmas  the  Gcalekas,  joined  by  Bowana's  and  Lehanna's 
Basutos,  rose  in  an  effort  to  throw  off  the  British  yoke. 
Stokwe  joined  the  raiders.  Nganglizwe  was  restless,  yet  loyal 
to  those  whose  suzerainty  he  had  accepted.  Hence  in  God's 
providence,  the  entire  Kaffir  mission  did  not  become  involved, 
as  had  been  feared.  The  campaign  was  brief.  Sandili,  a 
troubler  of  the  peace  for  years,  fell  in  a  skirmish.  Kreli,  chief 
of  the  Gcalekas,  hid  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains.  Stokwe 
was  defeated  and  captured.  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  in  the  name  of 
Queen  Victoria,  could  offer  amnesty  to  all  except  a  few  ring- 
leaders. But  Entwanazana  had  been  looted  and  stood  in  ruins. 
In  June,  1878,  Hasting  returned.  His  former  people  had  been 
scattered,  the  land  being  taken  away  from  Stokwe's  Kaffirs. 
Yet  seventy-eight  souls  could  soon  be  reported  as  gathered 
round  him. 

Meantime  the  older  congregations  of  the  Eastern  Province 
were  beginning  to  assume  a  more  distinctively  Christian  char- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH, 


acter.  Chief  hindrances  remained  the  disorders  attendant  upon 
the  war,  and  the  abundance  of  canteens  in  the  frontier  districts. 
Nevertheless  progress  was  observable.  The  beehive  shaped 
kraals  were  giving  place  to  houses  after  the  European  mode, 
where  the  decencies  of  life  could  be  observed.  A  commence- 
ment was  made  at  an  effort  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the 
gospel.  Special  attention  was  paid  to  the  schools.  For  the 
erection  of  a  new  church  at  Shiloh  the  people  themselves  con- 
tributed $2,500  in  1870  and  1871. 

In  AustraHa  imposing  numbers  could  not  be  expected.  In 
all  Victoria  there  were  not  more  than  eight  hundred  pure 
Papuans.  But  although  the  fruits  of  missionary  labor  could 
show  an  increase  of  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  in  1879 
as  compared  with  sixty-eight  ten  years  before,  the  improvement 
in  quality  had  been  remarkable.  At  Ramahyuk  in  1872  the 
school  earned  one  hundred  per  cent.,  the  highest  number  of 
marks  attained  by  any  of  the  fourteen  hundred  schools  under 
the  supervision  of  the  government  inspector.  Ebenezer  blos- 
somed out  like  an  oasis,  thanks  to  the  windmill  and  aqueduct, 
constructed  by  Adolphus  Hartmann,  which  had  rendered  irri- 
gation possible.  When  the  project  of  founding  a  hospital  at 
Sale,  near  Ramahyuk,  was  agitated,  the  first  contribution 
received  towards  the  erection  of  the  building  came  from  the 
native  congregation,  a  donation  of  $15.  In  1876  an  orphanage 
was  begun  at  Ramahyuk  itself,  in  charge  of  native  Christians. 
Commissioners  appointed  by  government  in  1877  to  inquire  into 
the  condition  of  the  aborigines  of  the  colony  and  to  suggest  the 
best  means  for  furthering  their  interests,  in  spite  of  preexisting 
prejudices  against  the  system  of  reserves  reported  favorably, 
and  especially  gave  the  palm  to  the  two  stations  conducted  by 
the  Moravian  missionaries,  as  exceeding  in  efficiency  the  four 
imder  the  direct  management  of  the  Board  for  the  Protection 
of  the  Aborigines. 

On  the  other  hand,  with  all  the  expenditure  of  faithful  labor, 
the  Himalayan  mission  remained  comparatively  fruitless.  Con- 
verts had  to  face  the  certainty  of  being  disowned  by  relatives, 
and  of  losing  employment,  whilst  local  chiefs  were  incessant  in 
both  open  and  secret  opposition.  Great  rejoicing  had  attended 
the  baptism  by  Pagell  in  1872  of  a  young  convert,  Nathanael 
Sodpa  Gjalzan,  an  ex-lama  from  Lhassa.  His  linguistic  attain- 
ments had  been  invaluable.     The  schools  had  extended  their 


5o6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


influence,  and  in  the  spring  of  1876  the  baptism  of  the  Moham- 
medan teacher  in  the  school  at  Kyelang  had  been  followed  by 
the  conversion  of  five  of  his  scholars.  Mission  tours  had  been 
frequent,  and  large  numbers  of  copies  of  tracts  and  of  parts  of 
the  New  Testament  distributed.  Jaschke's  Hterary  labors  had 
not  ceased  with  his  return  home  in  1868.  He  carried  through 
the  press  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  the  Book  of  Acts,  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  and  the  Revelation,  besides  a  translation  of  the 
Harmony  of  the  Gospels.  Redslob,  who  arrived  in  1872,  had 
completed  the  translation  of  Genesis.  In  hope  against  hope  the 
missionaries  persevered,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  future 
success. 

Now  yet  another  sphere  of  unselfish  service  was  entered.  In 
1865  a  benevolent  German  lady,  Baroness  von  Keffenbrink- 
Ascheraden,  with  her  husband  visited  the  Holy  Land.  The 
misery  of  the  lepers,  crouching  and  begging  with  their  hoarse 
cries  beside  the  Zion  gate  of  Jerusalem,  went  to  her  heart.  She 
purchased  a  plot  of  ground  outside  the  Joppa  gate,  and  built  a 
house  to  serve  as  an  asylum.  A  local  committee  of  Christian 
gentlemen  was  formed  for  the  supervision  of  its  aflfairs,  with 
Bishop  Gobat  as  chairman. 

But  to  build  a  house  was  easier  than  to  secure  men  and 
women  willing  to  cope  with  this  terrible  disease  at  less  than 
arm's-length.  It  seemed  natural  to  turn  to  the  Moravian 
Church,  identified  for  forty-five  years  with  the  care  of  lepers 
in  Cape  Colony.  Frederick  Tappe  and  his  wife,  for  years  pre- 
viously active  in  Labrador,  consented  to  undertake  the  work. 

The  asylum  was  dedicated  in  May,  1867.  But  deep  preju- 
dices at  first  thwarted  its  usefulness.  Fanatical  Moslems  would 
not  enter  the  Christian  dwelling.  Independence  and  the  pleas- 
ures and  privileges  of  begging  were  not  supposed  to  be  coun- 
terbalanced by  tender  care,  by  a  comfortable  home,  by  changes 
of  linen  and  good  food,  conditioned  by  the  observance  of  neces- 
sary rules.  On  the  day  of  dedication  not  one  solitary  bene- 
ficiary was  at  hand.  However  within  a  year  twelve  patients 
were  sheltered,  and  within  ten  years  twenty  became  the  average 
number  at  one  time.  "But  now  the  maintenance  of  such  an 
institution,  requiring  about  $1,500  per  annum,  called  for  the 
exercise  of  faith  in  God.  How  was  such  a  sum  to  be  raised? 
There  was  but  one  answer,  *Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.'  And 
prayer  was  made  and  answered.    It  happened  that  while  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


507 


Baroness  pondered  upon  this  matter,  a  small  pamphlet  from  the 
pen  of  Bishop  James  La  Trobe,  giving  an  account  of  the  self- 
denying  labors  of  our  missionaries  among  the  lepers  in  South 
Africa,  fell  into  her  hands.  She  at  once  wrote  to  the  author, 
claiming  his  sympathy  and  aid  for  her  cherished  plan  on  behalf  of 
the  lepers  in  Emmanuel's  land.  Her  touching  letter,  published  in 
the  Moravian  Magazine,  elicited  a  ready  response,  not  only  from 
members  of  the  Moravian  Church,  but  also  from  Chrisians  of 
other  names.  And  ever  since  that  day  of  small  things,  the  Lord 
has  raised  up  many  warm  friends  to  this  cause  in  England,  Ger- 
many, Switzerland  and  in  the  United  States.  It  is  true  there 
have  been  times  when  the  Committee  and  Managers  have  been 
in  sore  straits,  but  neither  compassions,  nor  faith,  nor  supply 
have  failed.  Year  by  year  help  has  come  seasonably  and  often 
most  unexpectedly." 


5o8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXII. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1879. 

From  jMay  26  to  July  3,  1879,  fifty-three  representatives  of 
the  church  were  assembled  at  Herrnhut,  under  the  presidency 
of  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  with  Bishops  Henry  Levin 
Reichel,  William  Taylor  and  Emil  de  Schweinitz  as  Vice-Presi- 
dents. 

True  to  the  traditional  aversion  of  the  Moravian  Church  in 
regard  to  the  formulation  of  a  fixed  creed,  synod  declined  to 
draw  up  any  confession,  but  deemed  it  desirable  to  add  to  the 
statement  of  cardinal  truths,  recognized  to  be  essential  and  bibli- 
cal, "the  doctrine  of  the  fellowship  of  believers  with  one  another 
in  Christ  Jesus,  that  they  are  all  one  in  Him  who  is  the  Head  of 
the  body  and  all  members  one  of  another,"  and  "the  doctrine  of 
the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  in  glory,  and  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  unto  life  or  unto  condemnation."  Thus  eight 
tenets  were  henceforth  to  be  considered  as  of  first  consequence, 
though  as  heretofore  synod  refrained  from  defining  in  exact 
theological  terminology  the  manner  in  which  these  tenets  are  to 
be  held.  In  reference  to  these  eight  fundamentals  it  was  fur- 
ther enacted :  "The  church  esteems  it  neither  necessary  nor 
profitable  to  construct  a  creed  formulated  with  regard  to  all 
individual  points  of  doctrine,  thus  binding  consciences  and 
quenching  the  Spirit,  nor  does  it  consider  the  welfare  of  the 
church  to  be  determined  by  the  obligatory  acceptance  of  such 
a  creed  on  the  part  of  its  ministers,  but  to  depend  on  the  vivifi- 
cation  and  invigoration  of  the  spirit  of  the  church  by  the  grace 
of  the  Lord.  Yet  just  as  little  can  the  church  suffer  any  one 
within  its  borders  to  teach  and  preach  anything  opposed  to 
Holy  Writ,  and  particularly  to  those  statements  which  wc, 
according  to  our  understanding,  consider  to  embody  the  leading 
doctrines  of  Holy  Scripture.  Nor  can  the  church  entrust  the 
highly  important  office  of  preaching  the  Word  and  instructing 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


509 


youth  in  the  truths  of  Christianity  to  brethren  who  stand  in 
actual  opposition  to  said  statements,  and  least  of  all  to  such  as 
neither  can  nor  will  take  the  position  of  conscientious  believing 
submission  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  on  which  those  statements 
rest,  and  as  are  consequently  in  conscious  disagreement  with 
the  spirit  of  the  church."  This  gave  notice,  that  the  tolerant 
liberality  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  regard  to  formal  theology 
is  not  to  be  understood  as  equivalent  to  laxity. 

Petitions  from  several  congregations  in  Germany  and  the  pro- 
posals of  the  synod  of  the  American  Province,  North,  brought 
the  subject  of  constitutional  revision  into  consideration.  But  a 
large  number  were  opposed  to  any  change.  Finally  it  was  de- 
cided that  as  hitherto  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  holding 
ofhce  from  general  synod  to  general  synod,  should  consist  of 
twelve  members,  assigned  to  three  departments — those  of 
finance,  of  the  oversight  of  the  pastorates  and  of  the  educational 
activity  and  that  of  missions.  In  future  the  eight  members  con- 
stituting the  two  former  departments  should  be  nominated  by 
the  preparatory  synod  of  the  German  Province,  and  then  formally 
elected  by  the  general  synod,  whilst  the  members  of  the  last 
department  should  be  directly  and  immediately  chosen  by 
synod.  In  its  entirety  the  Conference  should  administer  the 
joint  undertakings  of  the  whole  church — its  missions,  including 
that  in  Bohemia,  and  its  joint  finances.  It  should  also  repre- 
sent the  I\Ioravian  Church  in  negotiations  with  governments 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  continue  to  be  the  governing 
board  for  the  German  Province.  In  addition,  however,  the  four 
members  of  the  Department  of  Missions,  in  conjunction  with 
one  member  of  each  of  the  other  departm.ents,  chosen  by  the 
general  synod,  should  constitute  what  was  to  be  known  as 
the  "Department  of  the  Unity."  This  body  should  alone  be 
in  correspondence  with  the  British  and  American  Provinces, 
and  should  constitute  their  supreme  court  of  appeal,  and  an 
executive  in  so  far  that  it  should  be  charged  with  the  duty  of 
guarding  against  any  contravention  of  the  transactions  of  the 
general  synod  on  the  part  of  either  Province.  In  purely  Pro- 
vincial matters,  the  independence  of  each  Province  was  wholly 
unafifected  by  the  legislation,  save  that  synod  affirmed  the 
principle  that  a  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  is  more  than  a 
mere  executive  committee  of  a  Provincial  synod,  with  func- 
tions limited  to  a  perfunctory  carrying  out  of  instructions.  On 


510 


A  HISTORY  OF 


the  contrary  it  has  powers  of  initiative  as  an  actual  board  ol 
government  and  administration,  responsible,  however,  for  its 
actions  to  the  Provincial  synod.  As  members  of  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  the  following  were  now  elected :  the  Depart- 
ment of  Missions,  Eugene  Reichel,  James  Connor,  Bishop 
Kiihn  and  Ferdinand  Bechler ;  the  Department  of  Finance, 
Gustavus  Reichel,  Ferdinand  Martin,  Eugene  Groche,  and 
Henry  Levin  Reichel ;  the  Department  of  Education  and  of 
the  Pastoral  Office,  Theophilus  Reichel,  Henry  Miiller,  The- 
ophilus  van  Calker  and  Martin  Achtnich.  As  members  of  the 
Department  of  the  Unity  in  addition  to  the  members  of  the 
Department  of  Missions,  the  choice  of  synod  fell  upon  The- 
ophilus Reichel  and  Henry  Levin  Reichel. 

One  of  the  most  important  transactions  of  the  synod  was  the 
adoption  of  a  plan  for  the  development  of  the  mission  in  the 
West  Indies  to  a  status  of  self-dependence  and  self-administra- 
tion. A  general  governing  board  was  to  be  created  in  the  West 
Indies,  with  its  own  President  and  Treasurer,  to  occupy  tem- 
porarily a  position  of  responsibility  between  the  Mission  Board 
at  home  and  the  seven  general  conferences  of  the  islands.  The 
hope  was  cherished  that  this  board  might  assume  the  character 
of  a  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  enjoying  rights  and  powers 
similar  to  those  of  the  executive  bodies  in  the  British  and 
American  Provinces.  For  the  next  ten  years  financial  aid  was 
to  be  rendered  according  to  a  steadily  descending  scale,  the 
starting  point  being  $15,000,  that  the  congregations  might  dur- 
ing their  period  gradually  accustom  themselves  to  the  burden  of 
self-support.  The  expenses  of  the  theological  seminary  and  of 
the  three  normal  schools,  repairs  of  buildings  necessitated  by 
earthquakes,  tornadoes  or  other  catastrophes,  the  costs  of  fur- 
loughs of  missionaries  and  the  outfit  of  those  sent  for  the  first 
time  were  to  be  considered  as  still  devolving  upon  the  home 
church,  as  well  as  the  pensions  of  the  superannuated.  In  carry- 
ing out  the  details  of  the  plan,  the  Mission  Board  was  directed 
to  use  the  greatest  circumspection  and  to  deal  in  the  fullest 
brotherly  love,  so  as  to  gfuard  the  interests  and  if  possible  meet 
the  wishes  of  those  who  would  be  most  affected  by  the  proposed 
change. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 


THE  GERMAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1879  ^O  1889. 

Although  changes  in  the  governing  board  followed  in  quick 
succession  in  the  years  after  the  creation  of  the  Department  of 
the  Unity,  official  visits  were  frequent.  Surinam  received  atten- 
tion from  Eugene  Reichel  and  Theophilus  van  Calker  in  1880, 
South  Africa  enjoyed  the  stimulus  of  a  visit  from  its  former 
superintendent.  Bishop  Kiihn,  in  1882  and  1883,  Bishop  Richard 
strengthened  the  bonds  uniting  America  with  the  European 
church  in  1883,  Connor  in  the  same  year  made  a  tour  of  the 
British  congregations,  and  Bishop  Romig  visited  the  special 
sphere  of  his  own  life-work,  the  eastern  islands  of  the  West 
Indian  mission,  in  1887. 

Theophilus  Reichel  resigned  in  1881,  and  Marc  Theophil 
Richard,  Principal  of  the  school  at  Montmirail,  was  elected  in 
his  place.  Suddenly,  on  January  28  of  the  following  year  a 
stroke  removed  the  aged  President  of  the  Conference,  Bishop 
Gustavus  Reichel.  Bishop  Henry  Levin  Reichel  now  became 
President,  and  Bishop  Kiihn  Vice-President,  Francis  Kriiger, 
warden  of  Herrnhut,  being  chosen  as  the  new  member.  In 
September,  1884,  these  two  officers  of  the  Conference  retiring, 
Bishop  Miiller,  and  Martin  Achtnich  replaced  them.  Bishop 
Henry  Levin  Reichel  had  now  completed  fifty  years  of  service, 
and  his  declining  health  constrained  retirement.  The  choice 
of  the  church  now  fell  upon  Christian  Theodore  Hans  of  St. 
Petersburg.  Before  the  year  was  out  Bishop  Gustavus  Theo- 
dore Tietzen  died.  Born  in  1809,  his  labors  had  commenced  in 
1830,  and  had  closed  with  the  synod  of  1879.  As  a  professor  in 
the  college  at  Niesky,  he  had  been  instrumental  in  God's  hand 
in  connection  with  the  revival  of  1841.  His  counsel  had  been 
of  the  highest  value  at  all  of  the  general  synods  since  1848.  His 
connection  with  the  governing  board  dated  from  1857.  Acht- 
nich remained  a  member  of  the  Conference  only  two  years, 


A  HISTORY  OF 


dying  on  March  15,  1886.  Scarcely  half  a  year  elapsed  when 
on  November  14  the  church  mourned  the  death  of  a  younger 
man,  Frederick  Eugene  Reichel,  of  the  Department  of  Mis- 
sions, only  fifty-five  years  of  age.  His  former  field  had  been 
French  Switzerland,  where  he  had  met  with  signal  success  in 
efforts  to  call  forth  support  of  the  missions.  Of  permanent 
value  is  also  his  Riickblick  ilber  die  Himdert  und  filnfsigjdhrige 
Missionsarbeit  dcr  Bri'idcrgemeine,  published  in  connection  with 
the  Mission  Jubilee  of  1882.  Conrad  Beck  and  Arthur  Guido 
Burkhardt  stepped  into  the  vacant  places.  Finally  in  1887  both 
Hans  and  Kiihn  resigned.  Theodore  Bauer,  Principal  of  the 
Girls'  School  at  Kleinwelke,  and  Benjamin  Romig,  President 
of  the  Provincial  Conference  of  the  Eastern  division  of  the 
West  Indian  Mission,  became  their  successors. 

Special  attention  was  directed  early  in  the  decade  towards 
the  Russian  Empire.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  seventies 
inducements  held  out  by  government  had  been  attracting  agri- 
culturists to  the  undeveloped  wooded  plateaus  and  half- 
drained  marshlands  of  Volhynia.  Hither  by  the  year  1884  one 
hundred  thousand  emigrants  had  flocked  from  Poland  and 
Bohemia,  mainly  people  of  German  birth  or  extraction.  Served 
by  only  three  Lutheran  pastors,  their  religious  condition  was 
that  of  extreme  destitution.  Many  of  the  Polish-German  emi- 
grants to  Volhynia  had  been  connected  with  the  Diaspora  of  the 
Moravian  Church  before  they  ventured  into  the  forests.  Hence 
they  sent  petitions  to  Herrnhut  to  be  supplied  with  pastoral 
care.  In  these  requests  former  Roman  Catholics  from  Bohe- 
mia also  joined,  who  had  cut  loose  from  priestly  domination, 
and  were  now  desirous  of  coming  into  connection  with  the 
Brethren's  Church.  A  preliminary  visit  on  the  part  of  Her- 
man Rudolph  Steinberg  of  the  Polish  Diaspora  was  followed  by 
the  appointment  of  William  Lange  to  Schadura,  one  of  the  Ger- 
man colonies  eighteen  German  miles  from  Rowno.  In  Sep- 
tember. 1884,  he  reached  this  village,  a  straggling  settlement 
about  one  mile  in  length  in  the  midst  of  dense  forests  of  oak 
and  birch,  where  wolves  and  other  wild  beasts  still  abounded. 
Here  amidst  extremely  necessitous  circumstances  a  numerous 
band  of  earnest  people  undertook  to  found  a  congregation  of 
the  Brethren's  Church.  Having  no  connection  with  this  move- 
ment, in  November  of  the  same  year,  in  quite  a  different  part  of 
the  Russian  Empire  a  similar  commencement  bade  fair  to  be 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


inaugurated.  On  the  steppes  a  clay's  journey  to  the  south  of 
Sarepta  a  colony  of  Germans  who  had  come  in  1879  from 
Saratov,  Swabians  by  birth,  had  rented  an  estate  from  the 
widow  of  a  Russian  general.  Hungering  for  the  Word,  they 
sent  for  Bernard  FHegel  of  Sarepta,  who  visited  the  place  to 
minister  to  them,  and  named  the  new  congregation  Gnadenthal 
with  the  consent  of  the  ninety  communicants.  But  in  spite  of 
the  urgent  representations  of  Hahn,  whom  the  church  sent  to 
St.  Petersburg,  the  Russian  government  issued  its  prohibition. 
In  fact,  instead  of  the  hoped  for  concessions,  efforts  were  put 
forth  to  thwart  the  church  elsewhere.  Not  even  was  Schadura 
to  be  tolerated.  But  its  people  esteemed  God's  truth  and  lib- 
erty of  conscience  to  be  more  precions  than  houses  and  fields. 
Under  the  leadership  of  their  pastor,  Lange,  they  once  more 
took  the  wanderer's  stafif  in  hand.  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
acres  of  land  were  secured  near  Joinville,  in  the  Province  of 
Santa  Catharina,  Brazil.  There  Briiderthal  arose  in  1885  a 
South  American  counterpart  of  Bethel  in  Australia. 

On  June  9,  1884,  the  Provincial  synod  convened  at  Herrnhut, 
Bishop  Miillcr  presided,  with  Eugent  Reichel  and  Guido  Burk- 
hardt  as  his  assistants.  Important  preparations  had  been  made 
for  this  gathering  towards  the  close  of  the  previous  year. 
Special  commissions  had  been  in  session  at  Berthelsdorf  in 
November  and  December,  taking  counsel  respecting  the  educa- 
tional activity  and  the  financial  status  of  the  German  division  of 
the  church.  These  subjects  now  occupied  the  main  attention 
of  the  synod.  Since  the  late  seventies,  owing  largely  to  the 
wide  financial  depression,  the  number  of  pupils  at  the  various 
church  schools  had  decreased.  The  school  for  boys  at  Zeist 
in  1881  had  been  changed  into  a  day-school.  Gnadenfeld  girls' 
school  was  declining.  The  russification  of  the  Baltic  Provinces 
involved  the  school  for  girls  at  Lindheim  in  difficulties.  More- 
over the  requirements  of  the  Prussian  government  respecting 
teachers'  certificates,  connected  with  the  unification  of  the  edu- 
cational system  of  the  country,  seriously  aflfected  the  conditions 
governing  the  supply  of  teachers  from  the  membership  of  the 
church.  Amongst  other  measures,  that  there  might  be  more 
uniform  methods  in  all  the  church  schools,  the  office  of  Inspec- 
tor of  schools  was  created  with  jurisdiction  over  all  the  educa- 
tional undertakings  of  the  Province.  The  curriculum  of  the 
college  was  so  amended  as  to  give  it  the  status  of  a  gymnasium. 

34 


514 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Meanwhile  the  theological  seminary  had  suffered  a  serious 
loss  in  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Herman  Plitt  from  the  president's 
chair  in  July,  1880,  after  more  than  thirty  years'  service  in  the 
institution.  Preeminently  the  theologian  of  the  church  in 
this  era,  his  intercourse  with  students  had  been  an  inspiration. 
Otto  Uttendorfer  became  his  sucessor,  to  be  followed  in  the 
autumn  of  1886  by  Bernard  Becker. 

The  resignation  of  Francis  Miiller,  Director  of  the  college, 
in  1885  formed  a  parallel  to  the  retirement  of  PHtt.  For  thirty- 
four  years  he  had  been  identified  with  its  interests.  Herman 
Theodore  Bauer,  hitherto  Co-director,  now  took  charge. 

On  January  4,  1887,  Augustus  von  Dewitz  died,  in  his  fifty- 
first  year.  The  founder  of  the  normal  school  in  1872,  as  he 
had  been  of  the  mission  institute  in  1869,  he  stood  at  the  head 
of  both  until  1879,  when  his  energies  were  concentrated  upon 
the  latter  only,  Charles  Buchner  being  then  called  to  the  former. 
Since  1883  Herman  Kluge  had  been  his  chief  assistant  in  the 
mission  institute,  and  was  now  given  the  management.  The 
death  of  the  founder  the  more  seriously  affected  it,  since  it 
interrupted  the  erection  of  its  main  building.  In  1883  a  plot 
of  ground  had  been  purchased,  and  a  commodious  edifice  com- 
menced, in  which  workshops  and  apparatus  for  manual  training 
as  well  as  ordinary  school-rooms  should  find  a  place.  The 
corner-stone  had  been  laid  on  April  28,  1885,  and  the  chief  hall 
had  been  consecrated  in  June,  1886.  But  all  this  constituted 
only  a  portion  of  the  structure  as  planned.  In  the  execution 
of  the  project  thus  far  Alexander  Gruschwitz  of  Neusalz  had 
laid  the  church  under  tribute  by  special  liberality. 

This  same  year,  1887,  afforded  opportunity  to  give  proof  that 
the  old  spirit  of  consecration  survived.  In  the  year  1880  the 
ownership  and  the  full  responsibility  for  the  home  for  lepers 
near  Jerusalem  had  been  given  over  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference. Age  and  the  state  of  his  health  unfitted  Tappe  for 
further  service  in  1884.  His  place  was  taken  by  Francis  Miiller, 
a  student  of  the  institute  at  Niesky.  Numbers  had  been 
increasing  and  the  need  of  a  better  equipment  was  apparent. 
At  a  new  site  just  outside  the  city,  on  the  road  to  Bethlehem, 
a  new  and  larger  house  was  completed  in  1887.  Now  volun- 
teers were  called  for  in  the  German  Moravian  Church  for  ser- 
vice in  the  wards  and  in  the  kitchen.  Nine  brave  women 
responded.  Three  onlv  were  required :  and  Paulina  Pletz, 
Augusta  Ehrle  and  Magdalene  Jeffe  were  accepted  for  the  work. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


In  the  closing  days  of  May  and  throughout  June,  1888,  the 
synod  was  once  more  in  session  at  Herrnhut,  preparatory  to 
the  assemblage  of  the  general  synod  of  the  ensuing  year.  Pro- 
tracted discussions  took  place  respecting  a  further  revision  of 
the  constitution  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference.  But  synod 
contented  itself  with  the  proposal  that  "the  German  Province 
be  allowed  liberty  of  action  in  constituting  the  Department  of 
Education  and  the  Pastoral  Ofifice  and  the  Department  of 
Finance  according  to  the  requirement  of  the  case"  and  that 
"General  Synod  devise  some  new  mode  of  electing  the  brethren 
of  the  Department  of  Missions."  Synod  also  requested  that 
henceforth  the  use  of  the  lot  be  not  obligatory  in  the  German 
Province  in  connection  with  appointments  to  office  and  in  the 
nomination  of  bishops. 

The  decade  had  been  prolific  in  additions  to  the  literature 
of  the  church.  Henry  Augustus  Jaeschke,  who  died  at  Herrn- 
hut on  September  24,  1883,  lived  to  see  his  Tibetan  Dictionary 
issued  in  an  English  translation.  It  was  printed  in  Berlin  at 
the  expense  of  the  East  Indian  Government.  But  the  most 
important  of  his  linguistic  achievements  was  his  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  Tibetan.  With  the  exception  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  and  the  Revelation  of  St.  John,  translated  by  Fred- 
erick Adolpluis  Redslob,  he  himself  completed  the  magnificent 
work.  It  formed  his  chief  monument,  coming  from  the  press 
in  1884  at  the  cost  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 
Another  masterly  fruit  of  missionary  labor  was  the  Eskimo 
Grammar  of  Theodore  Bourquin,  issued  in  1887.  In  the  same 
year  the  official  historiographer,  Joseph  Miiller,  gave  to  the 
public  Die  dciitschcn  Katcchismcn  der  Bohmischcn  Brildcr,  in  addi- 
tion to  sending  forth  from  time  to  time  reports  which  embodied 
the  fruits  of  his  researches.  Ernest  Arved  Senft,  pastor  of  the 
congregation  at  Peseux,  laid  French  speaking  Moravians  under 
obligation  in  1888,  by  his  L'Eglise  de  L' Unite  dcs  Frcres  (Moraves) 
esquisses  historiques  precedecs  d'  une  notice  sur  I'Eglise  de  I'Unite  de 
Bohcme  et  de  Maravie  et  le  pietisme  aUcmand  dii  XV He  siecle.  And 
last,  but  of  special  importance  for  its  original  research  and 
philosophic  presentation  of  Zinzendorf  and  the  Moravian 
Church  of  his  age  in  its  relation  to  the  great  movements  of 
thought  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  Bernard  Becker's 
Zinzendorf  im  Vcrh'dltnis  cit  Philosophie  tmd  Kirchentmn  seiner 
Zcit,  issued  at  Leipsic  in  1886. 


5i6 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 


THE  BRITISH  PROVINCE,  FROM  1879  1889. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  mention  Fulneck 
schools  called  up  the  kindly  face  of  their  Director,  Joseph  Hut- 
ton  Willey.  Class  after  class  of  ministers'  and  missionaries' 
sons  looked  up  to  him  as  a  second  father.  Under  his  wise 
administration  Fulneck  boys  and  girls  made  a  good  record  in 
connection  with  the  Universities'  local  examinations,  athletics 
flourished,  and  a  hearty  young  Christian  life  was  nurtured. 
But  change  is  inevitable  everywhere.  Early  in  1881  he 
exchanged  educational  activity  for  the  pastorate  of  Gracehill. 
Jackson  Shawe  succeeded,  and  signalized  his  entrance  into  office 
by  remodeling  the  buildings  and  household  appointments. 
About  the  same  time  the  weight  of  years  constrained  Bishop 
John  England  to  withdraw  from  the  Conference,  and  assume 
the  pastorate  of  Fairfield.  Godfrey  Clemens  of  Fulneck  stepped 
into  the  vacant  place,  Bishop  Taylor  becoming  President.  But 
the  constitution  of  the  new  member  of  the  board  had  been 
already  undermined  by  a  paralytic  stroke  after  his  return  from 
the  synod  of  1879.  ^^'^  followed  soon.  His  had  been  a 
career  of  long  sustained  usefulness  in  various  pastorates  and 
for  fifteen  years  at  Fulneck.  Of  German  parentage,  born  at 
Mamre  in  Cape  Colony  in  1818,  he  had  thoroughly  identified 
himself  with  the  British  Province  from  the  days  of  his  first  ser- 
vice in  Fairfield  as  a  teacher  twenty  years  of  age,  and  his  mild, 
afYectionate  disposition,  which  knew  how  to  combine  firmness 
of  principle  with  lovable  tenderness,  had  endeared  him  to  all. 

Jackson  Shawe  received  fifty  of  the  seventy-three  votes  cast 
in  the  ensuing  election ;  but  never  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
the  office  to  which  he  was  called  by  the  voice  of  the  church. 
During  a  visit  to  Morecambe  Bay  he  met  with  a  sudden  death 
by  drowning.  The  sorrowing  congregations  deferred  a  new 
election  until  the  synod  should  convene.    William  Titterington, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Avell  prepared  by  a  long  period  of  service  as  a  successful  master, 
became  Director  of  Fulneck  school. 

From  June  27  to  July  12,  1882,  the  synod  was  in  session  at 
Fulneck.  Taylor  and  Robbins  received  as  their  colleague 
Thomas  Henry  Hines.  Alexander  Cossart  Hasse  was  elected 
a  bishop,  and  received  consecration  at  the  hands  of  Bishops  La 
Trobe  and  Taylor.  The  Messenger  was  confided  to  Robert 
Elliott,  with  William  MallaHeu  as  assistant  editor.  As  a  com- 
mittee for  the  final  revision  of  the  Church  Hymnal,  synod 
appointed  J.  H.  Willey,  B.  Harvey,  F.  Purser,  J.  D.  Libbey,  V. 
Drury  and  B.  La  Trobe. 

On  May  2,  1884,  the  sad  news  of  another  loss  startled  the 
congregations.  Henry  Edwards  Shawe,  the  Secretary  of  Mis- 
sions in  London,  whose  services  as  editor  of  Periodical  Accounts 
and  as  advocate  of  the  missions  in  all  parts  of  Britain  had  won 
him  deserved  prominence,  died  rather  suddenly  at  Fairfield,  in 
his  fifty-second  year.  Never  having  held  a  pastoral  position, 
but  from  the  first  trained  for  the  secretaryship,  and  having 
served  originally  as  Assistant-secretary,  he  had  become  an 
expert  who  seemed  indispensable.  Nevertheless  providence 
again  provided.  Benjamin  La  Trobe,  of  Haverfordwest,  before 
long  proved  himself  true  to  family  traditions,  and  worthy  to 
carry  forward  the  fallen  standard.  Next  year,  moreover,  the 
former  incumbent  of  the  office,  Thomas  Leopold  Badham,  died 
in  Dublin,  aged  sixty-seven.  His  services  as  a  missionary  in 
the  West  Indies,  as  Mission  Secretary  and  as  a  Provincial 
Elder,  were  gratefully  recalled  by  the  church.  So,  too,  when 
loss  of  hearing  caused  Bishop  England  to  retire  to  Bedford  in 
the  spring  of  1886,  after  forty-six  years  of  service  identified  with 
the  efforts  of  the  church  to  better  adapt  itself  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  British  field,  it  was  felt  that  it  was  a  veteran  indeed 
who  sought  repose. 

The  synod  of  1886,  at  Fulneck,  although  breaking  the  ground, 
by  thorough  discussions,  for  a  change  which  was  to  be  con- 
summated two  years  later,  itself  scarcely  did  more  than  dis- 
charge routine  business.  The  members  of  the  Provincial  Eld- 
ers' Conference  received  hearty  testimony  of  the  confidence 
they  enjoyed  by  obtaining  a  practically  unanimous  reelection. 
Considerable  time  was  devoted  to  a  careful  revision  of  the  litur- 
gical services  for  the  new  edition  of  the  Hymnal.  Arrange- 
ments were  perfected  whereby  ''associate  congregations"  might 


5i8 


A  HISTORY  OF 


be  recognized  as  enjoying  the  fellowship  of  the  Brethren's 
Church,  in  virtue  of  agreement  to  certain  fundamentals  of  doc- 
trine and  discipline,  but  retaining  independence  in  matters  of 
ritual. 

On  May  14,  1887,  transpired  the  dedication  of  the  handsome 
church  on  University  Road,  in  Belfast,  a  practical  evidence  of 
church  extension  which  ministered  bright  encouragement.  To 
the  energy  of  Samuel  Kershaw,  pastor  since  1877,  the  final  suc- 
cess of  the  enterprise  was  especially  owing. 

Bedford  welcomed  the  Provincial  synod  in  August,  1888.  Its 
convocation  was  anticipated  with  special  interest  on  account  of 
lengthy  discussions  in  the  Messenger  for  some  time  previously 
with  regard  to  the  proposed  creation  of  an  "annual  conference," 
a  body  of  ministers  and  laymen,  smaller  in  number  than  the 
constituency  of  the  Provincial  synod.  But  it  was  now  feared 
that  its  duties  and  prerogatives  might  trench  on  those  of  both 
the  Provincial  Synod  and  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference, 
whilst  its  existence  would  involve  the  creation  of  another  piece 
of  machinery.  Instead  synod  therefore  determined  upon  annual 
sessions  of  the  Provincial  synod,  as  necessitating  no  change  in 
the  constitution,  and  yet  likely  to  reach  the  ends  desired  by  those 
who  advocated  the  new  measure.  This  problem  being  solved, 
it  appeared  opportune  to  provide  for  the  compilation  of  a 
"Church  book,"  containing  all  the  statutory  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  Province,  together  with  the  necessary  introductory 
matter  of  a  historical  and  explanatory  character.  John  Taylor 
of  Blakewcll,  the  successor  of  Charles  Joseph  La  Trobe  as 
Advocatiis,  was  appointed  the  compiler,  and  J.  D.  Libbey,  J.  H. 
Edwards  and  Leonard  Hasse  were  associated  as  a  committee 
to  revise  the  work  in  conjunction  with  the  members  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Elders'  Conference.  These  were  now  Bishop  Taylor, 
Thomas  Henry  Hines  and  Henry  Edwards  Blandford,  Robbins 
retiring  from  active  service. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  LXV. 


THE  AMERICAN  PROVINCE,  FROM  1879  TO  1889. 

Peculiar  difficulties  hampered  the  executive  board  of  five 
after  the  synod  at  Hope.  The  heritage  of  financial  perplexity 
received  from  the  past  intimate  connection  of  the  Sustentation 
Fund  with  the  life  and  activity  of  the  church,  intensified  by  the 
results  of  the  financial  panic  of  1873,  had  to  be  taken  into 
account  at  every  turn.  Fully  aware  at  the  outset  that  the  funds 
were  insufficient  for  the  demands  made  vipon  them,  the  Confer- 
ence attempted  to  lighten  the  burden  by  refraining  from  draw- 
ing compensation  for  their  official  labors,  each  member  obtaining 
his  personal  support  from  some  other  source.  But  the  bur- 
den of  double  duties,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  President, 
Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  charged  with  frequent  and  exten- 
sive official  visits  in  addition  to  his  duties  as  pastor  of  the  Beth- 
lehem congregation,  was  heavier  than  the  church  should  have 
required.  In  November,  1880,  he  resigned  his  pastoral  posi- 
tion, in  order  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  work  of  adminis- 
tration. The  congregations  at  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Lititz  and 
New  York  (English)  entered  into  a  special  agreement  to  tem- 
porarily provide  a  salary,  in  order  that  the  Sustentation  Fund 
might  be  relieved.  But  the  strain  of  the  situation  remained. 
The  three  schools  which  had  formerly  been  a  source  of  large 
revenue  had  not  yet  recovered.  Hope  Seminary  did  not  pay  its 
way,  although  its  expenses  had  been  reduced.  A  large  defi- 
ciency was  disclosed  in  the  general  accounts  of  the  Province  at 
the  end  of  the  first  financial  year.  A  still  larger  was  the  result 
of  operations  at  the  end  of  the  second.  Moreover  the  after 
effects  of  the  strife  which  preceded  the  synod  at  Hope  were  felt, 
especially  in  Philadelphia.  Three  ministers  withdrew.  The 
disturbed  state  of  the  Second  Church  in  Philadelphia  culminated 
in  a  division,  ninety-eight  communicants  leaving  with  Herman 
S.  Hoffman  to  form  Holy  Trinity  Moravian  Church,  at  Twelfth 


520 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  Oxford  Streets  in  December,  1879.  The  parent  congre- 
gation for  a  number  of  years  maintained  a  difficult  struggle  for 
existence.  After  erecting  a  handsome  stone  church  in  1880  the 
new  congregation,  under  the  lead  of  its  pastor,  in  the  autumn 
of  1881  transferred  its  fellowship  to  that  of  the  Reformed  Epis- 
copal Church. 

Meanwhile  on  May  18,  1881,  the  Provincial  Elders'  Confer- 
ence convened  a  special  synod  to  meet  the  financial  emergency. 
Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz  presided.  Up  to  this  time  the 
income  of  the  funded  principal  and  the  earnings  of  the  church 
boarding  schools  and  of  the  Publication  Concern,  which  consti- 
tuted part  of  the  assets  of  the  Sustentation  Fund,  had  been  em- 
ployed for  the  general  needs  of  the  Province — the  salaries  of 
Provincial  Elders  under  normal  arrangements,  the  expenses 
involved  in  the  appointment  and  transfers  of  ministers,  the 
deficiencies  of  the  periodicals,  the  deficiencies  of  the  theological 
seminary,  the  current  expenses  of  the  Provincial  Elders  for  gen- 
eral administration,  the  stipends  of  the  superannuated,  the  cost 
of  the  education  of  ministers'  children,  and  the  salary  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  Publications.  At  the  rate  of  the  recent  deficits  it  was 
apparent  that  if  this  system  were  continued  without  a  change, 
the  Sustentation  Fund  would  be  exhausted  in  fifteen  years,  leav- 
ing the  Province  without  provision  for  the  administration  of  its 
general  affairs,  to  say  nothing  of  the  distress  into  which  its  pen- 
sioners would  be  brought.  Moreover  the  church  had  morally 
no  right  to  run  through  the  endowment  created  by  the  liberality 
of  the  churches  at  Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  Lititz.  Although 
legal  forms  had  not  been  observed  when  the  Fund  was  created, 
in  fact  and  morally  it  was  a  trust  fund,  the  integrity  of  which 
the  Province  was  under  obligation  to  maintain.  This  view  of 
the  situation  was  taken  by  the  synod  with  practical  unanimity. 
Radical  measures  were  adopted  to  insure  the  payment  of  pen- 
sions, and  at  the  same  time  to  provide  for  the  general  adminis- 
tration of  the  Province.  On  the  one  hand  the  Sustentation 
Fund  was  temporarily  relieved  of  all  obligations  save  the  pay- 
ment of  pensions.  The  ministers  voluntarily  proposed  to  yield 
the  educational  privileges  of  their  children  until  such  time  as 
the  Sustentation  Fund  might  be  in  condition  to  resume  this 
charge.  Earnings  of  the  schools  should  he  applied  to  make 
good  the  impaired  capital  of  the  Fund.  The  office  of  Secretary 
of  Publications  was  abolished,  and  the  periodicals  were  to  be 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


521 


edited  gratuitously  by  various  editorial  committees.  The  theo- 
logical seminary  was  severed  from  all  connection  with  the  Fund, 
the  professors  having  signified  their  wilHngness  to  risk  their 
salaries,  and  depend  upon  the  liberality  of  the  church.  And 
finally,  the  most  significant  measure  of  all  was  the  institution 
of  what  was  to  be  known  as  the  "Provincial  Revenue."  The 
representatives  of  the  congregations  declared  their  conviction 
that  the  Province  was  able  to  pay  the  cost  of  its  joint  expenses, 
and  that  these  expenses  ought  to  be  met  directly  by  the  mem- 
bership. The  salary  of  one  Provincial  Elder,  the  office  and 
traveling  expenses  of  the  Board,  the  cost  of  official  visits,  the 
cost  of  appointments  and  transfer  of  ministers  should  be  pro- 
vided for  by  contributions  annually  sent  by  each  congregation 
according  to  ability,  the  dues  of  each  congregation  to  be  ami- 
cably determined  in  a  joint  conference  of  its  officers  and  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Provincial  Board.  The  advisory  board  of  lay- 
men who  together  with  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  had 
the  oversight  of  the  Sustentation  Fund  should  have  the  man- 
agement and  control  of  all  the  financial  afifairs  of  the  Province 
not  otherwise  provided  for.  As  members  of  this  board  synod 
elected  Charles  A.  Zoebisch,  Abraham  S.  Schropp  and  J.  Samuel 
Krause ;  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  Eugene  Leibert  and 
Augustus  Schultze  constituting  the  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference. 

Much  of  the  time  of  the  synod  was  also  given  to  the  con- 
sideration of  a  plan  of  union  with  the  Southern  Province,  pre- 
sented by  the  delegates  of  the  Southern  synod,  Edward  Rond- 
thaler  and  J.  Frank  Shafifner.  Union  had  been  suggested  by 
the  Southern  body,  and  the  overture  was  gladly  welcomed  by 
the  North.  In  general  the  Southern  plan  was  accepted,  and 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  arrange  details.  Visits  were 
made  to  Salem  by  these  commissioners,  and  correspondence 
exchanged.  A  Southern  synod  subsequently  passed  upon  the 
matter  favorably,  but  with  difference  of  opinion.  A  change  of 
sentiment  had  become  evident  in  the  South.  Ultimately  the 
commissioners  had  to  report  to  the  synod  at  Lititz  in  1884,  that 
the  project  had  come  to  nothing,  though  the  Southern  division 
gave  assurances  of  its  purpose  to  unite  in  the  support  of  the 
theological  seminary  and  of  the  periodical  publications  of  the 
church. 


522 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Encouragement  was  derived  from  the  report  of  the  Confer- 
ence to  the  synod  in  session  at  Lititz  in  May,  1884.  The  crucial 
moment  of  the  financial  crisis  seemed  to  be  passed.  True, 
Hope  Seminary  had  been  closed  in  the  summer  of  1881.  The 
other  schools  had  been  able  to  make  good  impaired  capital  to 
the  amount  of  about  four  thousand  dollars.  A  legacy  of  one 
thousand  dollars  devised  by  George  W.  Dixon,  of  Bethlehem, 
for  the  support  of  superannuated  ministers,  had  practically 
increased  the  Sustentation  Fund  by  that  amount.  Provincial 
Revenue  had  been  a  success,  $8,931  having  been  raised  in  the 
three  years,  leaving  a  surplus  of  $1,229  the  hands  of  the 
Treasurer.  However  it  was  evident  that  this  favorable  result 
had  been  dependent  upon  that  fact  that  two  members  of  the 
Conference  served  gratuitously,  and  upon  the  additional  imcer- 
tain  feature  that  the  number  of  ministerial  changes  of  late  had 
been  unu.sually  small.  Furthermore,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  editorial  committees  gave  their  services  gratuitously, 
the  Manager  of  the  Publication  Concern,  Edwin  G.  Klose,  who 
since  1881  had  combined  its  oversight  with  his  professorship 
in  the  theological  seminary,  reported  that  this  establishment 
was  by  no  means  as  prosperous  as  the  church  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  supposing. 

Synod  reaffirmed  the  principle  of  the  Provincial  Revenue. 
The  members  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  and  of  the 
advisory  board  were  reelected.  The  office  of  Secretary  of  Pub- 
lications was  restored,  carrying  with  it  the  business  manage- 
ment of  the  concern.  After  the  synod  Edwin  G.  Klose  con- 
sented to  give  his  undivided  attention  to  this  responsible  post, 
and  resigned  the  professorship  which  he  had  filled  successfully 
for  eighteen  years.  The  arrangement  of  editorial  committees 
was  continued,  with  changes  of  personnel. 

Meanwhile  the  life  of  the  church  showed  various  fluctuations, 
here  retrogression,  there  advance.  In  Iowa  the  tendency 
towards  the  consolidation  of  the  farms  told  unfavorably. 
Moravia  was  sold  in  1878,  the  enterprise  coming  to  an  end. 
Next  year  near  Florenceville,  close  to  the  Minnesota  line,  and 
about  fifty-six  miles  from  Bethany,  Henry  Reusswig  organized 
Ramah,  ministered  to  jointly  by  the  pastors  of  Bethany,  Hebron 
and  Northfield ;  but  on  Reusswig's  appointment  as  traveling 
missionary  in  1882,  and  with  the  opening  of  better  prospects 
in  western  Minnesota  and  North  Dakota,  Ramah  came  to  an 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


end,  several  of  its  families  having  removed  and  identified  them- 
selves with  Moravian  churches  elsewhere.  In  1878  J.  J.  Det- 
terer  made  his  home  in  Atlantic  City,  and  ministered  to  the 
home  mission  congregation,  served  since  1877  from  Egg  Har- 
bor; but  when  in  ]88o  its  members  reached  the  point  of 
erecting  a  place  of  worship,  they  lost  courage,  and  the  under- 
taking came  to  an  end.  Very  different  features  presented 
themselves  in  connection  with  the  work  in  Dakota.  Independ- 
ent from  the  first,  the  new  organizations  there  were  charac- 
terized by  stalwart  self-reliance  and  large  hberahty.  The  Red 
River  valley  became  a  hopeful  field.  Goshen  prospered,  and 
in  1881  a  second  congregation  was  organized,  consisting  of 
former  members  of  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  congregations 
and  other  settlers,  living  beyond  Maple  River.  This  church 
was  named  Canaan.  For  about  a  year  it  was  served  from 
Goshen,  but  in  the  summer  of  1882  it  received  a  pastor  of  its 
own  in  the  person  of  WilHam  Strohmeie  r.  For  a  number  of 
years  North  Salem,  Wisconsin,  was  a  filial  of  Lake  Mills.  In 
1882  William  H.  Romig  took  charge,  and  English  services  were 
instituted  at  the  request  of  people  of  the  vicinity.  During  the 
same  year  Fry's  Valley  was  separated  from  Gnadenhiitten, 
Bishop  Van  Vleck  becoming  its  pastor.  In  December,  1883, 
Coopersburg  was  begun  by  Lewis  P.  Clewell,  pastor  of  Em- 
maus,  as  a  filial  of  the  latter  charge.  But  in  the  same  year 
Victor,  Iowa,  had  to  be  abandoned.  In  October  a  church  was 
dedicated  at  Port  Washington,  as  a  result  of  the  energetic 
labors  of  John  H.  Clewell,  pastor  of  Uhrichsville,  who  had 
organized  this  filial  the  year  before.  And  about  the  same  time 
Christian  Madsen,  at  Sturgeon  Bay,  gathered  together  the 
Scandinavian  settlers  seven  or  eight  miles  to  the  south,  and 
established  Shiloh.  The  year  1884  witnessed  the  erection  of  a 
chapel  in  West  Bethlehem,  as  an  additional  place  of  worship 
for  the  members  of  the  mother  congregation.  Castleton  Cor- 
ners obtained  a  resident  pastor,  Clarence  E.  Eberman,  union 
with  New  Dorp  being  maintained  as  a  collegiate  church.  Oak- 
land, Missouri,  begun  some  years  before  by  the  Southern  Prov- 
ince, was  transferred  to  the  charge  of  the  Northern  board.  On 
the  other  hand  the  union  of  Blairstown  with  Harmony  marked 
a  retrogression.  In  1886  London,  in  Dane  County,  Wisconsin, 
was  organized,  but  Olney,  in  IlHnois,  after  a  prolonged  efifort 
to  maintain  it  from  West  Salem,  was  abandoned. 


524 


A  HISTORY  OF 


In  the  Southern  Province  changes  had  meanwhile  been  trans- 
piring. Here  at  the  outset  of  the  period  the  Provincial  Elders 
were  Bishop  Emil  A.  de  Schweinitz,  Lewis  Rights  and  Eugene 
P.  Greider.  On  November  3,  1879,  after  the  first  returned 
from  the  synod,  failure  of  health,  manifest  during  its  sessions, 
terminated  fatally.  Identified  with  the  South  ever  since  1849, 
for  many  years  the  administrator  of  the  Unity's  estates  in  North 
Carolina,  and  for  the  last  ten  years  the  President  of  the 
Southern  Conference,  he  had  been  indefatigable  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  the  Province  during  the  critical  period  of  con- 
stitutional development  and  throughout  the  trying  years  of  the 
Civil  War,  and  had  represented  it  in  the  general  synods  of  1857, 
1869  and  1879.  Edward  Rondthaler,  pastor  of  Salem  congre- 
gation, was  chosen  his  successor,  Lewis  Rights  becoming  Presi- 
dent. Upon  Greider's  retirement  in  1884,  Parmenio  Leinbach 
became  the  third  member  of  the  Board.  MaximiHan  E.  Gru- 
nert  accepting  a  call  to  Emmaus,  Pennsylvania,  in  1877,  was 
followed  by  Jacob  Zorn  as  principal  of  Salem  Female  Academy. 
He  in  his  turn  seven  years  later  became  Associate  Principal 
of  Nazareth  Hall,  when  Edward  Rondthaler  took  charge  of  the 
school  in  Salem,  in  addition  to  previous  duties,  with  John  H. 
Clewell  as  assistant.  Four  years  later  the  latter  assumed  full 
control,  entering  upon  a  career  of  marked  success. 

The  North  now  experienced  severe  losses.  On  October  21, 
1884,  Lewis  F.  Kampmann  died  at  Bethlehem.  First  serving 
in  various  pastorates,  he  had  guided  the  affairs  of  the  theologi- 
cal seminary  during  the  important  years  after  its  removal  to 
Bethlehem  from  1S58  to  1864.  Minister  at  Lititz  for  three  years, 
he  was  then  elected  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, from  1867  to  1878.  For  six  years  subsequently  he  had 
been  pastor  of  York,  and  had  been  living  in  retirement  at  Beth- 
lehem for  only  a  few  months.  Within  a  year,  namely,  on  Octo- 
ber 22,  1885,  Bishop  Henry  A.  Shultz  followed  him.  Born  in 
Surinam,  he  had  been  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  church  in 
America,  and  had  served  in  a  variety  of  positions  both  South 
and  North  from  1833  to  1871.  From  1849  to  1851  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  he  especially  enshrined 
himself  in  the  memory  of  his  Brethren  by  his  unflagging  cham- 
pionship of  the  new  work  of  home  missions  throughout  the 
Northwest. 


EDMUND    ALEXANDER    de  SCHWEINITZ. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Early  in  the  year  1886  Eugene  Leibert  resigned  his  ofifice  as 
a  Provincial  Elder,  finding  the  double  burden  too  onerous  and 
preferring  to  devote  himself  to  the  interests  of  Nazareth  Hall, 
with  which  he  remained  identified  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  as 
its  honored  Principal.  Robert  de  Schweinitz  was  elected  his 
successor,  and  again  became  Provincial  Treasurer. 

On  December  18,  1887,  the  church  was  startled  by  the  sud- 
den death  of  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  who  quietly  fell 
asleep  as  he  sat  reading  at  home  on  the  evening  of  the  Sunday 
before  Christmas,  having  presided  in  the  afternoon  at  the 
annual  lovefeast  of  the  active  workers  of  the  Beth- 
lehem congregation.  It  was  a  sore  loss.  Identified 
with  the  constitutional  changes  of  the  middle  of  the 
century,  the  founder  of  the  Moravian,  he  had  also  been 
a  prolific  contributor  to  the  history  of  the  church,  his  Life  and 
Times  of  David  Zeisbcrger  and  his  monumental  History  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  up  to  the  time  of  its  resuscitation  at  Herrn- 
hut — the  latter  published  in  1885 — being  his  chief  works.  Pas- 
tor of  the  Bethlehem  congregation  from  1864  to  1880,  Presi- 
dent of  the  college  and  theological  seminary  from  1867  to  1885, 
President  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  since  1878,  and 
a  wise  counsellor  of  his  Brethren  in  synods  since  early  in  the 
fifties,  his  had  been  a  position  of  unique  prominence.  He  had 
represented  his  Province  at  two  general  synods,  and  had  been 
chosen  President  of  the  latter,  that  of  1879.  Gifted  with  native 
eloquence,  a  profound  scholar,  he  at  the  same  time  possessed 
a  grasp  of  affairs  and  administrative  gifts  and  large  sympathies 
which  impelled  others  to  recognize  him  as  a  natural  leader  and 
to  lean  upon  his  ripe  judgment.  Deeply  appreciating  the  worth 
of  the  traditions  of  former  days,  he  at  the  same  time  stood  for 
all  that  was  progressive  in  the  healthiest  sense.  Men  of  such 
preeminent  qualities  are  given  by  God  to  any  church  only  at 
rare  intervals.  The  mourning  which  followed  his  departure 
was  wide-spread  and  deep. 

At  the  call  of  the  church  J.  Mortimer  Levering  consented  to 
enter  the  breach  in  the  Conference,  whilst  retaining  his  position 
as  a  pastor  of  the  Bethlehem  congregation.  Robert  de 
Schweinitz  combined  the  duties  of  President  and  Treasurer 
until  the  next  convocation  of  the  synod. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1887  a  chapel  was  erected  at  the 
northern  outskirts  of  Bethlehem,  on  Laurel  Street,  as  an  addi- 


526 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tional  place  of  worship  for  members  of  the  widely  scattered 
congregation.  In  the  same  year  Osborne,  Kansas,  had  been 
abandoned,  in  consequence  of  the  removal  of  many  of  the 
people  because  of  repeated  failures  of  crops  from  droughts. 
On  the  other  hand  the  church  now  entered  into  a  close  rela- 
tionship to  the  interdenominational  city  missions  in  York, 
Pennsylvania,  engaging  to  supply  them  with  a  minister,  and  an 
attempt  was  made  to  inaugurate  a  congregation  in  Milwaukee. 
Next  year  Reusswig's  labors  as  a  traveling  missionary  bore 
additional  fruit  in  the  consecration  of  a  church  at  Hector,  Ren- 
ville County,  Minnesota,  where  he  had  made  his  home  since 
1886,  the  nearest  railroad  station  to  Elim,  and  served  in  con- 
junction with  it.  In  the  spring  of  1888  a  congregation  was 
organized  in  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  under  promising  auspices. 
Finally  the  application  of  Scandinavians  at  Centralia  and  Grand 
Rapids,  Wisconsin,  being  looked  into  by  Jacob  Hoyler,  Chris- 
tian Madsen  accepted  a  call  thither. 

When  therefore  the  synod  assembled  at  Bethlehem  on  Sep- 
tember 19,  1888,  the  outlook  was  hopeful.  Bishop  Amadeus  A. 
Reinke  was  chosen  President.  Provincial  Revenue  was  found 
to  have  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  could  be  regarded  a  perma- 
nent arrangement.  The  schools  were  on  the  whole  recovering 
from  the  effects  of  the  financial  depression,  Jesse  Blickensderfer 
of  Bethlehem  reporting  a  decided  gain  in  the  number  of 
scholars,  and  Linden  Hall  rejoicing  in  the  erection  of  its  chaste 
memorial  chapel,  dedicated  in  February,  1885.  This  was  the 
gift  of  George  W.  Dixon  of  Bethlehem  in  memory  of  his 
daughter  Mary,  a  former  pupil.  Synod  endeavored  to  provide 
for  Provincial  development,  changing  the  District  conferences 
into  District  synods,  as  had  been  originally  contemplated.  The 
expenses  of  all  synods  in  the  Northern  Province  were  hence- 
forth to  be  met  by  annual  per  capita  assessment  of  the  member- 
ship, that  the  weaker  Districts  might  be  helped  by  the  stronger. 
Further  it  was  determined  that  a  new  theological  seminary 
should  be  erected,  and  a  building  committee  was  created  with 
full  power  to  act  in  the  premises.  This  committee  consisted  of 
Amadeus  A.  Reinke,  Henry  T.  Bachman  and  Jesse  Blickens- 
derfer, the  members  of  the  new  Provincial  Elders'  Conference, 
together  with  Augustus  A.  Schultze,  the  President  of  the  semi- 
nary, J.  Taylor  Hamilton,  the  Resident  Professor,  and  Joseph 
A.  Rice,  Joseph  H.  Traeger  and  Ashton  C.  Borhek. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


527 


CHAPTER  LXVI. 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  FROM  1879  TO  1889. 

A  net  gain  of  thirteen  stations  and  of  eleven  thousand  and 
thirty-one  adherents  and  of  sixteen  missionaries  as  compared 
with  the  figures  at  the  beginning  of  the  decade,  gave  proof  that 
divine  favor  rested  upon  the  work.  This  very  extension,  how- 
ever, carrying  as  it  did  with  it  an  increasing  outlay  not  only 
for  current  expenses  but  also  for  the  training  and  outfit  of  mis- 
sionaries, for  the  education  of  missionaries'  children  and  for 
pensions,  as  well  as  for  the  erection  and  care  of  additional  build- 
ings, and  complicating  the  work  of  administration,  involved  an 
ever  increasing  strain  upon  resources.  Seven  of  the  ten  years 
showed  deficits  in  the  annual  accounts,  ranging  from  $6,866  to 
$16,951.  Nevertheless  by  the  blessing  of  God  the  liberality  of 
members  and  friends  made  it  possible  for  the  general  synod  of 
1889  prior  to  the  close  of  its  sessions  to  rejoice  at  the  announce- 
ment that  the  last  deficit  had  been  made  good. 

Greenland  saw  a  slight  increase  in  the  number  of  members, 
although  only  the  most  southern  station,  Friedrichsthal,  any 
longer  came  into  contact  with  actual  heathen,  and  these  for  the 
most  part  visitors  from  the  east  coast.  In  the  year  1881  Jacob 
Brodbeck  undertook  a  tour  of  exploration  thither  in  the  com- 
pany of  heathen  Eskimos  who  were  returning  home,  but  met 
with  no  other  persons  whatsoever.  In  1883  Nordenskjold,  the 
Swedish  explorer,  contemplating  an  expedition  to  the  sam.e 
region,  requested  the  aid  of  Brodbeck  as  interpreter.  The  wish 
was  granted,  in  the  hope  that  missionary  work  might  be  done. 
The  expedition  reached  the  66th  degree  of  northern  latitude. 
Having  spent  the  winter  in  Europe,  Brodbeck  set  sail  from 
Copenhagen  in  the  barque  Alhaon,  March  30.  On  April  i  the 
ship  was  running  under  close-reefed  sails.  A  storm  had  been 
raging  since  the  previous  day.  About  ten  o'clock,  the  night 
being  very  dark,  breakers  were  suddenly  seen  right  ahead.  In 


528 


A  HISTORY  OF 


a  moment  there  was  a  fearful  crash.  The  vessel  had  struck  on 
a  reef  near  the  Shetland  Islands.  Only  the  mate,  two  seamen 
and  one  passenger  managed  to  crawl  out  onto  the  rocks,  to 
which  they  clung  till  morning,  when  they  were  rescued  by  a 
boat  from  the  shore.  Of  the  others,  including  Brodbeck,  noth- 
ing was  ever  seen. 

With  this  exception,  the  life  of  the  mission  in  Greenland 
moved  on  in  an  uneventful  manner,  but  the  gradual  impoverish- 
ment of  the  people  scattered  along  the  west  coast  became  more 
and  more  painfully  evident.  The  prospect  of  ultimate  self- 
support  on  the  part  of  this  mission  field  was  becoming  more  and 
more  problematic.  The  normal  school  at  New  Herrnhut  was 
closed  in  1884;  and  whilst  that  at  Lichtenau  was  theoretically 
retained,  duiing  several  years  its  usefulness  was  practically  sus- 
pended for  lack  of  adequate  forces. 

Labrador,  at  the  end  of  the  decade  showed  a  slight  decrease 
in  the  number  of  Eskimos,  but  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
white  settlers,  attached  to  the  church,  a  total  of  1,283  in  all. 
The  trade  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  defrayal  of  the 
costs  of  the  mission  still  occasioned  no  little  perplexity.  Con- 
ducted by  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  its 
agents  since  1876  were  regarded  as  in  the  service  of  the  Mission 
Board,  although  not  charged  with  spiritual  duties.  At  their 
head  stood  a  warden.  Trouble  again  arose  in  connection  with 
the  debts  of  the  natives  and  assumed  such  a  character  that  the 
society  commissioned  Benjamin  La  Trobe  to  visit  Labrador  as 
its  representative.  Zoar  had  been  the  chief  center  of  dissatisfac- 
tion. Ever  since  1882  the  unpaid  indebtedness  of  the  Eskimos 
of  this  station  had  been  steadily  increasing,  in  spite  of  consid- 
erable advances  from  the  "poor  fund,"  until  the  twenty-six  men 
who  were  heads  of  families  there  owed  in  all  about  $2,715. 
From  its  founding  in  1865  this  place  had  earned  a  reputation 
as  a  poor  point  for  fishery,  etc.  And  the  character  of  its  people 
left  a  good  deal  to  be  desired  in  regard  to  amenability  to 
regulations.  During  the  autumn  of  1887  their  industry  was 
attended  with  complete  failure.  Much  distress  arose.  Instead 
of  humbling  themselves  under  the  afflictive  providence,  certain 
of  the  people  planned  to  plunder  the  store.  The  trader  was 
however  warned  in  time,  and  sent  for  Bourquin,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  mission,  who  came  from  Nain  to  allay  the  dis- 
satisfaction.   His  earnest  representations  for  a  time  appeared 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


529 


to  have  quieted  the  restless  spirits.  But  later  a  man  shot  twice 
into  the  store  where  the  Rinderknecht  and  Lundberg  were 
busied,  because  they  had  refused  his  unjustifiable  demands. 
After  a  thorough  examination  into  the  whole  affair,  La  Trobe 
with  the  missionaries  decided  upon  the  abandonment  of  the 
store  at  Zoar.  This  carried  with  it  the  probable  withdrawal  of 
the  missionaries.  The  decision  had  a  wholesome  effect  at  the 
other  stations. 

In  yet  another  respect  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the 
Gospel  was  occasioned  perplexity  during  the  decade.  The 
Cordelia,  an  auxiliary  supply  ship  used  in  the  trade  between 
Labrador  and  London,  was  run  down  by  a  steamer  in  the 
Thames  in  1881.  All  hands  were  saved,  but  the  cargo  perished, 
a  considerable  loss  to  the  treasury  of  the  society. 

The  Indian  missions  in  North  America  had  passed  through 
severe  trials.  During  the  Civil  War  lawless  bands  ranged 
through  the  Cherokee  country.  On  September  2,  1862,  Ward, 
a  native  missionary,  was  shot  by  Indians  as  an  alleged  southern 
sympathizer.  New  Springplace  founded  in  the  early  forties  was 
pillaged.  Gilbert  Bishop,  the  missionary  in  charge,  after  suf- 
fering arbitrary  arrest  by  a  subordinate  Northern  officer,  made 
his  way  with  his  family  to  Pennsylvania.  Canaan,  the  first  sta- 
tion to  be  estabHshed,  in  1841,  after  the  removal  from  Georgia, 
was  destroyed.  In  both  places  the  converts  were  scattered. 
Yet  in  1866  Edwin  J.  Mack  had  returned  from  Salem  and 
reoccupied  New  Springplace.  Later  a  church  was  built  at 
Talequah,  the  capital  of  the  "nation." 

In  1837  two-thirds  of  the  people  of  New  Fairfield  had  removed 
with  their  missionary,  Jesse  Vogler,  to  the  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, ultimately  settling  near  Fort  Leavenworth,  in  Kansas, 
where  New  Westfield  was  founded  on  a  reserve  of  twenty-four 
thousand  acres,  a  mission  doomed  almost  from  the  outset  by 
the  tide  of  white  migration  westwards.  Meanwhile  the  remnant 
at  New  Fairfield  pursued  the  uneventful  tenor  of  their  life. 
After  a  period  marked  by  prevailing  indifference,  the  heart  of 
Adolphus  Ilartmann — missionary  here  since  his  transfer  from 
Australia  in  1870 — was  gladdened  in  1887  by  an  awakening 
whereby  sixty  persons  were  brought  to  Christ  or  renewed  in  an 
earnest  desire  for  a  consecrated  life.  At  New  Westfield,  Kan- 
sas, the  church  was  twice  burnt  by  incendiaries  (November  15, 
1880,  and  January  i,  1886) — presumably  by  bad  whites  or  half- 
35 


530 


A  HISTORY  OF 


breeds.  The  greater  attractions  of  the  government  industrial 
school  at  Lawrence  having  induced  the  people  to  send  their 
children  thither,  the  day-school  at  New  Westfield  was  closed  in 
December,  1884.  Retrogression  in  this  period  also  marked  the 
work  amongst  the  Cherokees.  The  church  at  Talequah,  for 
lack  of  attendance  was  sold  to  the  Presbyterians  in  1880.  The 
consequent  removal  of  one  missionary  for  a  time  placed  the 
entire  field  in  charge  of  Theodore  M.  Rights,  having  car^  of 
Springplace  and  Woodmount  and  preaching  occasionally  in 
Talequah.  But  in  1884  Benjamin  Lineback  was  called  as  a 
co-worker,  and  two  years  later  a  church  was  consecrated  at 
Woodmount,  the  Cherokees  themselves  contributing  $575 
towards  this  purpose.  Meanwhile  attempts  were  made  to  open 
out-stations ;  but  the  membership  remained  small — less  than 
two  hundred  in  all. 

On  the  other  hand  with  the  approval  of  the  Mission  Board 
in  1884  the  American  Province,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Northern  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  and  the  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  at  Bethlehem,  energetically  undertook 
new  labors  in  behalf  of  the  aborigines  of  the  American  conti- 
nent. In  1885  a  mission  was  permanently  established  in  west- 
ern Alaska. 

For  the  Moskito  territory  God  had  special  blessings  in 
reserve.  The  first  traces  of  the  awakening  manifested  them- 
selves in  May,  1881,  at  Magdala.  Soon  the  awakening  became 
general,  and  spread  to  Bluefields,  Bethany,  Ephrata,  Karata 
and  Kukallaya.  All  the  neighboring  villages  felt  the  effects. 
Though  in  addition  to  the  proofs  of  a  genuine  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  fanatical  excesses  also  appeared,  caricatures 
wrought  by  the  enemy,  the  entire  revival  approved  itself  a 
work  of  God  and  did  not  burn  out  hastily.  Indians,  Negroes, 
Creoles  and  Spaniards  felt  the  mighty  movement  of  the  Spirit 
in  their  hearts.  !Men  wrestled  with  God  under  a  crushing 
sense  of  sin  for  days,  it  might  be,  and  then  light  dawned  upon 
their  darkness.  Sins  were  confessed  openly.  Restitutions  were 
made.  In  November,  1882,  a  conspiracy  against  the  govern- 
ment in  Bluefields  came  to  naught  because  of  the  religious 
movement.  More  than  a  dozen  "sukias,"  the  forefront  of  the 
opposition,  surrendered  to  the  truth.  Liberal  offerings  were 
made  by  some  who  had  formerly  strenuously  resisted  even  the 
entrance  of  light.    "At  the  reopening  of  the  chapel  at  Magdala, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


531 


January  19,  1883,  an  aged  Indian,  named  Fox,  rose  and  said: 
'Brethren,  I  can  not  make  long  speeches,  but  I  will  say  this: 
make  ten  collections  for  the  chapel,  and  I  will  give  something 
each  time.'  All  the  brandy  and  rum  shops  in  the  village  were 
closed,  with  one  exception.  The  people  went  to  the  chapel 
instead  of  to  the  public  house.  At  Quamwatla  two  hundred 
Indians  returned  to  the  village,  which  they  had  left  eight  years 
before  owing  to  superstitious  dread  of  poison  supposed  to  be 
buried  there.  They  rebuilt  their  huts  and  awaited  the  arrival 
of  a  missionary.  As  in  apostolic  times,  the  Lord  added  to  the 
church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved.  The  chapel  at  Karata, 
built  seven  years  before  with  considerable  misgivings,  was 
filled  with  an  auditory  of  two  hundred  persons.  Sixty-six 
Indians  were  baptized  there  on  November  16,  1881 ;  the  next 
day  eighteen  couples  received  the  blessing  of  the  church  upon 
their  union."  Several  hundred  heathen  asked  for  instruction 
and  applied  for  baptism.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  1887  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-one  adults  were  baptized.  During  the  decade 
the  adherents  of  the  mission  increased  in  number  from  1,030 
to  3,294.  Three  out-stations  were  added.  Indians  across  the 
border  of  Nicaragua  also  desired  instruction ;  but  the  govern- 
ment of  the  republic  interposed  a  prohibition,  on  the  ground 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  was  the  only  church  recognized  by 
their  constitution.  Yet  in  1888  the  regulations  were  in  so  far 
relaxed  as  to  permit  visits  on  the  part  of  Augustus  Erdmann 
and  Frederick  Smith,  and  negotiations  were  begun  for  the 
placing  of  a  '"helper"  at  Sandy  Bay  in  Nicaragua.  One  result 
of  the  revival  was  the  erection  of  chapels  in  a  nttmber  of  villages 
not  regularly  occupied,  and  in  many  cases  without  assistance 
from  the  treasury  of  the  missions. 

Whilst  the  course  of  the  mission  as  such  throughout  these 
years  afforded  special  satisfaction,  the  political  situation  became 
grave.  So  long  as  the  little  strip  of  undeveloped  coast  remained 
wilderness  there  was  little  inducement  for  any  power  to  place 
a  new  interpretation  on  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Managua, 
according  to  which  it  enjoyed  independent  government  whilst 
recognizing  the  suzerainty  of  Nicaragua.  But  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  trade  in  tropical  fruits  and  the  exportation  of 
mahogany  and  other  valuable  timber  as  a  consequence  of  the 
civilizing  effects  of  missionary  labor,  and  with  the  influx  of 
traders  and  gold-seekers  and  adventurers  from  many  lands,  the 


532 


A  HISTORY  OF 


situation  changed.  During  the  early  summer  of  1879  Chief 
Henry  Clarence  was  poisoned,  and  died  suddenly.  Great  excite- 
ment ensued.  The  absorption  of  the  coast  by  Nicaragua 
appeared  likely  to  follow.  But  the  election  of  a  new  chief  was 
effected,  Albert  Hendy  by  name,  a  convert  of  the  mission.  Yet 
ominous  signs  reappeared  from  time  to  time,  and  his  sud- 
den death  at  Magdala,  on  November  8,  1888,  once  more  threw 
affairs  into  confusion,  and  threatened  both  the  independence 
of  the  territory  and  the  free  prosecution  of  missionary  activity. 
But  once  more  fears  were  dispelled  by  the  election  of  Jonathan 
Charles  Frederick,  a  nephew  of  the  late  chief,  in  March,  1889, 
and  the  quiet  and  orderly  conduct  of  affairs  was  maintained. 

By  the  year  1884  the  Herald  began  to  succumb  to  the  influ- 
ences of  tropical  seas  that  shorten  the  Hfe  of  all  kinds  of  craft. 
Liberal  contributions  again  came  in.  A  serviceable  schooner, 
the  Adclc,  built  for  use  along  this  coast,  was  therefore  bought, 
and  renamed  the  Mcta,  in  1888.  But  of  yet  greater  import- 
ance to  the  mission  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  faithful  efforts  of  the 
Brethren,  and  rendered  especially  desirable  since  the  revival, 
was  the  completion  of  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
into  the  Moskito  Indian  tongue  by  William  Sieborger,  who 
brought  his  manuscript  to  Europe  in  1888,  to  be  printed  at  the 
expense  of  the  Herrnhut  Bible  Society. 

In  November,  1879,  important  conference  of  ministers  and 
delegates  was  convened  at  Nisky,  St.  Thomas,  in  order  to  take 
the  steps  necessary  to  carry  out  the  legislation  of  the  general 
synod,  which  should  prepare  the  way  for  Provincial  autonomy. 
The  resolutions  of  the  synod  and  the  proposals  of  the  Mission 
Board  were  discussed  with  frank  thoroughness,  and  various 
conclusions  reached  from  the  standpoint  of  the  mission  itself. 
The  first  of  these,  which  sought  a  division  of  the  work  into  two 
Provinces,  met  with  the  approval  of  the  Mission  Board.  It 
was  recognized  that  Jamaica  presented  features  different  from 
those  prevailing  in  the  eastern  islands,  and  that  the  distance 
of  this  western  sphere  of  operations  from  the  Lesser  Antilles 
would  involve  large  outlays,  if  the  West  Indian  mission  were 
hereafter  maintained  as  one  organic  whole.  Moreover  in 
Jamaica  such  a  degree  of  organization  had  already  been  devel- 
oped, that  few  changes  were  necessary  to  adapt  the  situation 
to  the  desires  of  the  general  synod.  Supervision  was  already 
exercised  by  an  executive  conference  under  the  direction  of  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


533 


Department  of  Missions.  Here,  therefore,  the  five  members 
of  this  executive  were  retained  in  office — Edwin  E.  Reinke, 
President ;  George  Henry  Hanna,  Treasurer  ;  John  Paul  Pulkra- 
bek,  Secretary;  Peter  Larsen,  and  Alfred  Lind — until  1884,  when 
a  new  executive  of  three  was  chosen,  after  the  analogy  of  the 
order  of  affairs  introduced  in  the  Eastern  islands — George  Henry 
Hanna,  President;  Alfred  Lind,  Treasurer,  and  Callender  Smyth, 
Secretary.  General  mission  conferences  were  appointed  in  both 
missionary  provinces  for  every  five  years,  when  a  new  election 
of  the  executive  should  take  place.  Provision  was  made  for 
the  convening  of  this  assembly  in  the  Eastern  Province  in  such 
a  manner  that  each  island  should  be  adequately  represented. 
Here  the  executive  was  constituted  of  Benjamin  Romig,  Presi- 
dent ;  Samuel  Warner,  Treasurer,  and  John  Lewis  Hasting, 
Secretary — reelected  in  1884.  In  every  case  the  election, 
whether  proceeding  from  the  general  conference,  or  as  in  the 
Eastern  islands  in  1884  by  the  vote  of  all  the  ordained  mission- 
aries, was  subject  to  the  approval  and  confirmation  of  the  Mis- 
sion Board.  LIpon  the  removal  of  Benjamin  Romig  to  Berth- 
elsdorf  in  1887,  Theodore  Niebert  was  chosen  his  successor  as 
President  of  the  Eastern  executive,  and  when  Hasting  retired 
from  active  service  on  account  of  ill  health  in  1887,  Frederick 
Clemens  became  Secretary.  A  further  change  was  necessitated 
in  the  following  year,  when  both  the  Treasurer  and  the  Secre- 
tary returned  home  owing  to  illness.  Samuel  L.  Thaeler  under- 
took the  duties  of  the  former,  whilst  those  of  the  latter  fell  to 
Henry  Weiss. 

Unfortunately  for  both  divisions  with  the  increase  in  the  pro- 
duction of  European  beet-sugar,  the  cane  industry.  West 
India's  chief  source  of  wealth,  steadily  declined.  Employment 
became  uncertain,  and  wages  constantly  fell.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances the  steady  decrease  in  the  appropriation  from  the 
mission  treasury  in  aid  of  the  West  Indian  work  caused  hard- 
ship, and  the  achievement  of  self-support  within  the  decade  was 
found  an  impossibility,  notwithstanding  the  loyal  efforts  of  mis- 
sionaries and  people. 

An  indispensable  condition  of  self-support  was  the  develop- 
ment of  a  native  ministry.  The  death  of  Badham  in  1879  had 
resulted  in  the  temporary  closing  of  the  theological  seminary  in 
Jamaica.  The  task  of  establishing  a  like  institution  at  Nisky 
in  St.  Thomas  was  now  assigned  to  Augustus  Romig.    But  an 


534 


A  HISTORY  OF 


affection  of  the  throat  compelled  him  to  relinquish  the  task 
after  a  few  months  in  1886,  and  Edward  Foster  was  called  from 
England  as  his  successor.  Later  the  Western  Province  renewed 
an  attempt  to  prepare  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  connec- 
tion with  the  normal  school  at  Fairfield,  but  in  1888  this  was 
once  more  abandoned  owing  to  untoward  circumstances. 

Progress  in  numbers  characterized  the  work  in  both  portions 
of  the  field  throughout  the  decade,  Jamaica  making  a  gain  of 
more  than  fifteen  hundred,  and  the  Eastern  islands  of  more  than 
two  thousand  five  hundred. 

Of  special  importance  for  the  future  of  the  mission  in  Jamaica 
was  the  recognition  of  the  church  as  a  body  corporate  in  1884, 
title  to  the  mission  property  in  the  island  being  vested  in  the 
Provincial  Conference  of  the  island  together  with  the  President 
of  the  British  Provincial  Elders'  Conference  and  the  Mission 
Secretary  in  London. 

In  the  Eastern  islands  a  noteworthy  event  was  the  erection 
of  a  memorial  church  in  the  city  of  St.  Thomas,  to  commemo- 
rate the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Moravian  mis- 
sions, large  gifts  being  received  for  this  purpose  from  all  parts 
of  the  Brethren's  Unity.  The  foundation  of  a  massive  stone 
structure  was  laid  on  August  21,  1882,  and  the  dedication  took 
place  on  May  16,  1884.  The  queen  of  Denmark  on  this  occa- 
sion took  opportunity  to  convey  her  warm  appreciation  of  the 
beneficent  results  of  the  missionary  labors  of  the  Brethren. 

As  in  Jamaica,  steps  were  also  taken  in  the  Eastern  islands 
to  secure  the  title  to  mission  property ;  but  here  the  varied  con- 
dition of  things  on  the  different  islands  and  the  fact  that 
different  governments  had  to  be  dealt  with  protracted  the  nego- 
tiations. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1879  Mr.  Quintin  Hogg,  the 
patron  of  the  mision  in  Demerara,  paid  a  visit  to  his  estates  in 
that  colony.  Now  he  asked  that  Alexander  Pilgrim  might  be 
sent  to  the  Reliance  plantation  near  the  Essequibo.  This  took 
place  in  April.  A  further  extension  followed  in  1882.  In 
the  village  of  Beterverwachting  there  lived  a  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Congregational  church,  who  had  separated  from 
their  parent  organization  in  1863,  and  since  then  had  been 
served  by  their  own  deacons.  Once  a  month  an  ordained  min- 
ister had  administered  the  sacraments.  But  in  the  course  of 
years  he  had  accepted  a  call  elsewhere.     Now  fifty-seven  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


535 


these  people  asked  to  be  received  into  the  Brethren's  Church 
and  regarded  as  constituting  a  filial  of  Graham's  Hall.  The 
request  was  granted.  By  the  end  of  the  year  1888  there  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty  communicants  here  alone,  whilst  the 
membership  at  Graham's  Hall  had  grown  to  four  hundred  and 
forty-five,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  twenty-one  were  com- 
municants. Reliance  on  the  other  hand  failed  of  success, 
chiefly  through  the  opposition  of  a  high  church  clergyman,  and 
was  therefore  abandoned.  Moreover  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1884  the  patron  of  the  mission  gave  notice  that  the  decline  of 
the  sugar  industry  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  as  largely 
sustain  the  work  in  Demerara  as  heretofore. 

Meantime  in  the  Surinam  mission  numbers  grew  very  rapidly. 
At  the  end  of  the  year  1888,  26,106  adherents  could  be  reported, 
an  increase  of  more  than  5,000  when  compared  with  the  total 
ten  years  before.  The  growth  was  not  an  even  one.  On  the 
plantations,  especially  those  near  the  capital,  a  decline  followed 
the  abandonment  of  sugar  production,  and  the  consequent 
removal  of  the  people  to  town.  Along  the  Coronie  and  Nicke- 
rie,  where  the  negroes  cultivated  their  own  land,  an  increase 
was  perceptible,  for  instance  at  Salem  and  Waterloo.  In  Para- 
maribo itself,  the  seven  thousand  three  hundred  in  church  con- 
nection had  become  thirteen  thousand.  Distinct  organizations 
had  been  budded  off.  Rust  en  Vrede  in  1882  and  Wanika  in 
1886.  These  with  Combe  and  the  old  church  grew  rapidly,  the 
central  organization  leading  with  a  total  membership  of  8,280. 

This  rapid  growth  in  numbers  in  the  city  proved  no  unmixed 
blessing.  Slavery's  heritage  of  evil  in  connection  with  sexual 
morality,  and  the  practical  difficulties  placed  in  the  way  of  poor 
persons  by  the  cost  attendant  upon  the  recognition  of  mar- 
riages by  the  civil  authorities,  rendered  necessary  numerous 
exclusions  from  church  membership.  At  the  same  time 
arrangements  that  sufficed  for  the  administration  of  discipline 
whilst  the  congregation  remained  small,  were  now  inadequate. 
To  add  to  the  difficulties  a  prominent  missionary  in  August, 
1879,  became  conscientiously  insubordinate,  carried  away  by 
peculiar  views  concerning  church  discipline,  holding  that  exclu- 
sion must  be  determined  by  the  congregation  and  not  by  the 
missionaries.  He  refused  to  yield  either  to  the  Provincial 
authorities  or  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference.  An  official 
visit  on  the  part  of  Eugene  Reichel  and  Theophilus  van  Calker 


536 


A  HISTORY  OF 


in  1880  resulted  in  his  dismissal  and  the  remodeling  of  the 
arrangements  for  the  cure  and  care  of  souls.  For  a  time 
trouble  still  made  itself  felt  beneath  the  surface.  But  gradually 
a  better  state  of  things  arose.  The  erring  missionary  made 
acknowledgment,  and  besought  reinstatement.  After  a  time 
he  was  given  the  means  of  earning  a  Hvelihood  in  connection 
with  secular  employment  carried  on  for  the  benefit  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  erection  of  the  Rust  en  Vrede  church  afforded 
opportunity  for  the  employment  of  energies,  and  caused  a  beam 
of  light  to  radiate  the  darkened  sky.  But  new  difficulties  arose 
in  connection  with  problems  of  church  discipline.  John  Haller, 
the  missionary  now  charged  with  the  general  oversight  in  this 
connection,  like  his  predecessor  but  from  a  different  standpoint 
in  his  turn  failed  to  act  in  agreement  with  his  colleagues  in 
Paramaribo,  and  with  the  Mission  Board,  being  inclined  to 
compromise  that  tended  to  laxity,  from  his  appreciation  of  the 
perplexity  in  which  the  colored  people  were  placed  by  the  cost- 
Hness  of  civil  regulations  regarding  marriage.  For  a  brief 
period  discipline  was  at  a  low  ebb.  The  controversy  in  time 
so  preyed  upon  Mailer's  health,  that  in  1885  a  furlough  became 
necessary.  He  was  not  destined  to  return  to  Surinam.  In 
December,  1886,  he  died,  at  the  age  of  forty-five,  a  brother  of 
rare  personal  gifts,  but  of  a  temperament  which  unfitted  him 
for  collegiate  labors.  Now  the  "native  helpers"  themselves 
commenced  a  movement  for  the  attainment  of  a  higher 
standard  of  discipline,  and  in  1893  the  colonial  government 
altered  the  laws  which  had  impeded  true  marriage  on  the  part 
of  the  negroes. 

An  increase  in  numbers  also  characterized  the  work  in  South 
Africa,  more  particularly  that  among  the  Kaffirs.  In  the  West- 
ern Province  the  drift  of  population  to  the  capital  took  thither 
many  young  people  from  the  mission  stations.  During  the 
visit  of  Bishop  Kiihn  in  1882  and  1883,  the  advisability  of  gath- 
ering these  scattered  children  of  the  mission  into  a  congrega- 
tion in  Cape  Town  was  discussed.  On  his  return  the  Mission 
Board  entered  into  the  project,  and  Philip  Emil  Hickel  was 
called.  He  met  with  hearty  sympathy  from  Christian  friends, 
and  the  consecration  of  a  church  and  school  on  Moravian  Hill 
took  place  in  1886  and  1887. 

In  November,  1887,  it  became  possible  to  take  a  step  in  ad- 
vance in  connection  with  the  normal  school  at  Genadendal,  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


537 


formation  of  a  class  of  theological  students,  definitely  des- 
tined for  the  ministry.  Prior  to  this  the  first  ordinations 
of  native  brethren  had  already  transpired,  Bishop  Kiihn  hav- 
ing received  John  Nakin,  Charles  Jonas  and  John  Zwelibanzi 
into  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  on  January  7,  January  28  and 
February  11,  1883,  at  Shiloh,  at  Enon  and  at  Clarkson.  Through- 
out the  congregations  also  the  desirability  of  attaining  self-sup- 
port was  beginning  to  manifest  itself  more  plainly  in  the  steady 
increase  in  contributions,  aUke  for  meeting  the  stated  expenses 
and  for  defraying  the  cost  of  repairs  to  churches  and  schools,  and 
this  in  spite  of  the  gradual  impoverishment  of  the  Colony.  The 
decline  in  colonial  prosperity  meanwhile  had  its  embarrassing 
effect  upon  the  various  enterprises  prosecuted  for  the  benefit 
of  the  mission ;  nor  did  the  desired  success  attend  the  effort  to 
introduce  new  industries,  silk-culture,  the  growth  of  arrowroot, 
the  production  of  castor  oil,  etc.  With  it  all  the  future  of  one 
■congregation  was  temporarily  placed  in  jeopardy  by  the  death 
of  aged  Christina  Lewis  of  Goedverwacht,  the  last  of  the  slaves 
of  Mr.  Buergers,  in  December,  1888.  It  could  scarcely  be  fore- 
seen that  the  thirteen  persons  whom  the  government  deter- 
mined as  his  heirs,  should  reject  the  tempting  offers  of  neighbor- 
ing planters,  desirous  of  purchasing  their  valuable  patrimony, 
and  in  a  spirit  of  splendid  self-sacrifice  should  offer  it  to  the 
church  at  a  nominal  figure,  and  then  individually  make  liberal 
contributions  towards  the  erection  of  a  permanent  house  of 
Avorship. 

The  Kaffir  mission,  embracing  the  three  older  posts  in  the 
Colony  proper,  Shiloh,  Goshen  and  Engotini,  together  with  the 
two  widely  separated  groups  in  Tembuland  and  East  Griqua- 
land  (Nomansland)  experienced  fluctuations,  expansion  pre- 
vailing on  the  whole.  In  consequence  of  the  war  with  insur- 
gent Basutos  and  Tambookies,  in  1880  and  1881,  Entwanazana 
had  to  be  abandoned  and  was  looted  and  burnt.  Baziya  and 
Tabase  experienced  similar  misfortunes  in  1880,  but  were  reoc- 
cupied  and  rebuilt.  On  the  other  hand  Bethesda  and  Ezincuka 
in  1883  and  1887  advanced  to  the  status  of  fully  equipped  sta- 
tions, and  Mnari  or  Nxotschane  and  Magadla  in  Hlubiland 
"became  out-stations. 

In  both  divisions  of  the  South  African  field  difficulties  arose 
in  relation  to  the  title  to  the  stations  and  mission  property, 
complicated  especially  in  Shiloh  and  Goshen  by  restiveness  of  a 


538 


A  HISTORY  OF 


minority  of  members  under  certain  municipal  regulations — 
difficulties  shared  at  the  same  time  and  in  a  similar  manner  by 
the  Anglican  and  Wesleyan  missions.  Negotiations  were  set 
on  foot,  with  a  view  to  secure  a  permanent  decision  from  the 
colonial  parliament.  A  tendency  decidedly  favorable  to  the 
desires  of  the  mission  became  apparent  in  this  high  court  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1888,  but  the  proceedings  protracted  them- 
selves beyond  all  expectation.  Meanwhile  it  was  the  more 
desirable  that  a  decision  on  all  points  at  issue  should  be 
obtained,  since  the  opportunities  for  evangelization  were  widen- 
ing. Amongst  the  Hlubi  and  Tembu  Kaffirs  alone  it  was  esti- 
mated that  about  eight  thousand  heathen  were  yet  to  be  found. 

In  hope  against  hope  the  West  Himalayan  mission  continued 
to  be  prosecuted,  the  scanty  results  that  came  to  the  surface 
exercising  no  deten'ent  efiect  upon  the  fidelity  of  missionary 
zeal,  as  little  as  did  the  lamented  death  of  Pagell  and  of  his  wife 
in  1883.  Here  the  most  notable  occurrence  was  the  founding 
of  a  station  in  Leh,  the  capital  of  Ladak,  and  the  most  import- 
ant town  in  Western  Tibet.  This  transpired  in  December,  1886, 
thanks  to  the  friendly  influence  which  the  British  commissioner, 
Air.  Elias,  brought  to  bear  in  seconding  the  efforts  of  Heyde 
to  obtain  concessions  from  the  Maharajah  of  Cashmere.  Suc- 
cess had  been  conditioned  on  the  sending  of  a  medical  mission- 
ary to  take  charge  of  the  polyclinic  and  hospital  of  the  city. 
For  this  purpose  Charles  R.  Marx  had  taken  a  degree  in  medi- 
cine at  Edinburgh,  and  now  came  with  his  wife  as  the  coad- 
jutors of  Brother  and  Sister  Redslob,  transferred  to  Leh.  The 
dedication  of  a  place  of  worship  transpired  on  September  2, 
1888. 

Jaeschke,  whose  broken  constitution  had  compelled  a  return 
to  Europe  in  1868,  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  publication  of 
his  invaluable  Tibetan-English  dictionary;  but  his  death  in  1883 
anticipated  the  completion  of  his  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Redslob  with  the  aid  of  the  converted  lama  Nathanael 
supplied  the  missing  books.  In  1884  the  entire  New  Testament 
in  Tibetan  was  printed  in  Berlin  at  the  cost  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society.  The  first  copies  reached  Leh  in  1885. 
Redslob  next  undertook  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
and  Genesis,  in  addition  to  the  translations  of  a  treatise  on  the 
Catechism  and  other  works  by  Heyde,  could  speedily  be  sent 
forth  from  the  lithographic  press  at  Kyelang. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


539 


In  Australia,  the  slow  but  steady  decrease  in  the  native  popu- 
lation pointed  to  the  inevitable  certainty  of  the  extinction  of  the 
Papuans  in  the  southern  colonies.  All  the  greater  interest 
therefore  attached  to  the  tribes  of  wild  aborigines  believed  to 
exist  in  the  northern  portions  of  Queensland.  Three  or  four 
beckonings  of  circumstance  indicated  a  call  to  commence  mis- 
sionary operations  there.  But  as  often  as  an  opening  com- 
manded attention,  other  circumstances  interfered,  even  after  an 
important  tour  which  Hagenauer  made  in  1885,  when  he  met 
with  the  representatives  of  eighteen  tribes  near  Cookberg  and 
the  Bloomfield  River.  Nevertheless  the  Mission  Board  and  the 
United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  Australia  kept 
steadily  in  view  the  importance  of  evangelizing  these  poor 
savages  and  the  Kanaka  laborers  on  the  sugar  plantations, 
whenever  a  favorable  oportunity  should  oflfer. 


540 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXVII. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  MISSION  IN  ALASKA. 

Discovered  by  Vitus  Bering  in  1742,  and  a  Russian  depend- 
ency for  more  than  a  century,  the  vast  territory  of  Alaska  was 
purchased  from  Russia  in  1867  by  the  United  States  for  $7,200,- 
000.  The  cHmate  of  the  southern  part  is  comparatively  mild, 
and  very  humid,  owing  to  the  warm  Kuro-Siwo,  or  Japanese 
current,  of  the  Pacific.  The  northern  portion  experiences  the 
terrible  cold  of  protracted  arctic  winters.  Its  people,  estimated 
at  about  35,000  prior  to  the  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Yukon, 
have  been  classed  as  Americans,  Russians,  Haidas,  Thlingits, 
Aleuts,  Innuits  or  Eskimos,  and  Athapascan  Indians.  Eight 
distinct  languages  and  several  dialects  are  spoken.  As  a  rule 
the  natives  are  strongly  built,  and  inured  to  hardship.  The  men 
have  slight  beards  or  none  at  all,  and  frequently  trim  closely  the 
scattering  hairs  on  their  chins  or  pluck  them  out.  An  Asiatic 
cast  of  features  predominates.  The  Eskimos  are  distinguished 
from  the  Eskimos  of  Greenland  and  Labrador,  by  being  taller 
and  more  robust.  All  the  various  races  of  Alaska  are  charac- 
terized by  a  rather  massive  head,  straight  and  coarse  dark 
brown  or  black  hair,  dark  eyes,  high  cheek-bones  and  a  nut- 
brown  or  yellow  complexion. 

The  natives  of  southeastern  Alaska,  taught  by  contact  with 
civilization,  have  frame  or  log  houses,  wholly  above  the  ground, 
with  sleeping  apartments  partitioned  ofT  from  the  main  or  living- 
room,  where  the  central  fire-place  is  built ;  and  many  of  the 
Thlingits  use  a  modern  cooking-stove.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Eskimos,  being  largely  nomads,  in  summer  occupy  tents 
constructed  of  the  best  material  that  is  at  hand,  skins  or  cotton 
canvas.  In  making  a  winter  house,  a  cellar  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  feet  square  is  dug,  from  three  to  five  feet  deep.  At 
the  corners  and  along  the  sides  of  the  excavation  are  set  posts. 
On  the  outside  of  these  poles  pieces  of  drift-wood  are  laid  one 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Upon  another  to  the  top.  Other  timbers  are  placed  across  the 
top,  forming  the  roof  or  ceiHng.  Against  the  outside,  and  upon 
the  roof,  dirt  and  sod  are  piled,  until  the  whole  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mound.  A  narrow  platform  extends  along  one  side 
or  several  sides  of  the  room,  upon  which  are  stowed  the  belong- 
ings of  the  family  and  bedding  of  furs.  This  platform  is  also 
the  sleeping  place.  Large  shallow  dishes  of  earthenware,  bone 
or  stone,  filled  with  seal  oil  and  with  wicks  of  moss,  are  the 
combined  stove  and  lamp  of  the  family.  Sometimes  these  lamps 
are  of  huge  dimensions,  two  to  four  feet  in  length  and  eight  to 
ten  inches  in  width,  with  thirty  or  forty  wicks.  In  one  corner 
of  the  hut  frames  are  suspended  in  which  snow  or  ice  may  be 
placed,  which  thawing  and  trickling  into  a  tub  below  shall  fur- 
nish the  water  supply  of  the  family.  At  one  side  of  some  rooms, 
and  in  the  floor  near  the  center  in  others,  there  is  a  small  open- 
ing. This  is  the  doorway  and  opens  into  a  hall  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet  long  and  very  narrow  and  low,  leading  to  a  well  or  shaft. 
This  shaft  is  six  or  seven  feet  deep  and  leads  up  a  rude  ladder  to 
the  open  air.  Within,  the  combined  smell  of  reeking  oil-lamps, 
rancid  blubber  and  the  effluvia  of  human  beings  and  dogs, 
becomes  malodorous  in  the  extreme.  When  on  hunting  or 
traveling  expeditions,  temporary  snow  huts  are  built,  peaked,  or 
in  the  shape  of  an  inverted  bowl. 

All  villages  of  any  consequence  have  their  public  hall, 
resembling  the  private  dwellings,  only  much  larger.  Some  of 
these  are  sixty  feet  square,  twenty  feet  high  and  contain  three 
tiers  or  platforms.  These  buildings  are  known  as  the  kashima 
or  kashka.  Here  the  public  festivals  are  held  and  dances  take 
place.  They  are  also  the  common  workshops  in  which  the  men 
make  their  snowshoes,  dog-sleds,  spears  and  other  implements. 

Fishlines  and  nets  and  bird-snares  are  constructed  of  sinews 
and  raw  hide.  Arrows,  spears,  nets,  traps  and  harpoons  with 
floats  made  of  whole  seal-skins  inflated,  are  used  in  hunting, 
though  guns  are  being  introduced  by  the  traders.  For  trans- 
portation on  land  the  people  have  snowshoes  and  dog-teams 
and  sleds,  and  on  the  water  the  kayak  or  bidarka  and  umiak 
or  bidarra.  With  a  frame-work  of  drift-wood,  these  canoes  are 
made  of  skins ;  the  kayak  being  a  long,  narrow,  light,  graceful 
craft,  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  feet  long,  tapering  at  either  end, 
with  one,  two,  or  three  holes  for  the  paddlers.  The  umiak  is 
the  family-boat,  and  may  be  from  twenty-four  to  forty  feet  long, 


542 


A  HISTORY  OF 


with  a  carrying  capacity  for  fifteen  persons  and  twenty  tons  of 
freight. 

The  food  supply  of  the  arctic  Alaskans  consists  of  the  white 
whale,  the  walrus,  seal,  deer,  squirrels,  hares,  beavers,  land 
otters,  etc.,  and  of  many  varieties  of  birds,  especially  geese  and 
ducks  and  gulls.  Fish  also  form  a  large  portion  of  the  diet, 
raw,  frozen,  broiled  or  dried.  Berries  are  used  either  in  a  fresh 
state  or  are  mixed  with  whale  or  seal  oil,  or  with  fat  chopped 
fine  and  beaten  into  a  paste — "native  ice  cream."  Love  of 
strong  drink,  in  spite  of  all  law  to  the  contrary,  is  a  special 
curse. 

Ignorant  and  savage,  and  with  a  religion  built  out  of  belief 
in  ghosts  and  evil  spirits,  the  Eskimos  are  superstitious  to  an 
extreme,  and  ascribe  everything  they  do  not  understand  to 
occult  influences,  thus  falHng  ready  victims  to  the  chicanery  of 
shrewd  men  who  choose  to  drive  the  profitable  trade  of 
"shamans"  or  witch-doctors.  Believers  also  in  the  transmigra- 
tion of  souls,  they  fancy  that  spirits  enter  even  into  rocks  and 
winds  and  tides  and  animals,  and  that  their  favor  or  malevo- 
lence determines  the  business  of  the  community  as  successful 
or  unsuccessful.  They  also  suppose  that  these  conditions  may 
be  changed  by  sorcery.  By  suitable  incantations,  nonsensical 
mummeries  and  ventriloquism,  the  shaman  can  control  the 
winds  and  tides,  and  can  reward  friends  and  punish  enemies. 
Marriage  is  entered  upon  with  no  special  ceremony.  If  the 
parties  are  young  people,  the  aflfair  is  largely  arranged  by  the 
parents.  Perhaps  the  young  husband  joins  his  wife's  family, 
and  is  expected  to  hunt  and  fish  for  them.  If  he  refuses  to 
give  his  father-in-law  the  furs  he  takes,  he  is  driven  out  of  the 
house,  and  some  one  else  more  active  or  more  obedient  is 
installed  as  the  husband  of  the  girl.  Sometimes  a  woman  has 
ten  or  twelve  husbands  before  she  settles  down.  In  this  con- 
dition of  things  it  is  not  at  all  strange  that  the  women  become 
indifferent  and  often  false  to  their  husbands,  and  that  childhood 
is  a  pitiful  stage  of  experience.  Love  has  little  to  do  with 
family-life,  and  husbands  and  wives  may  be  exchanged  by 
mutual  agreement.  Polygamy  also  prevails  to  a  limited  extent. 
There  are  various  festivals  which  involve  heathen  rites — a  whale 
dance,  seal,  walrus  and  reindeer  dances,  etc.  There  are  festi- 
vals for  the  spirits  of  wives,  of  dead  friends,  of  bidarkas,  etc. 

Inhuman  cruelty  is  sometimes  practiced  towards  the  sick. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


543 


The  prevailing  diseases  are  scrofula,  diphtheria,  catarrhal  dis- 
orders, pneumonia,  ulcerations  and  consumption ;  and  the  death 
rate  is  large.  A  superstitious  fear  exists  with  reference  to  a 
death  in  a  house,  so  that  when  the  sick  are  thought  to  be  Hear- 
ing their  end  they  are  carried  out  and  placed  in  an  out-house. 
If  they  do  not  die  as  soon  as  was  expected,  they  are  killed, 
usually  by  the  shaman. 

The  dead  are  wrapped  in  skins  and  drawn  on  a  sled  to  the 
rear  of  the  village,  where  they  are  placed  on  scaffolds,  out  of 
the  reach  of  animals,  or  upon  the  ground  and  covered  over  with 
drift-wood,  or,  as  among  some  of  the  tribes,  are  left  upon  the 
ground  to  be  soon  torn  in  pieces  and  devoured  by  the  dogs  of 
the  village. 

The  commencement  of  a  Moravian  mission  in  Alaska  was 
quite  unforeseen  by  the  members  of  that  church  until  soon 
before  its  inception;  and  the  call  came  from  an  unexpected 
quarter. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  "Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  Among  the  Heathen,"  held  on  August  23,  1883,  at 
Bethlehem,  its  President,  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  com- 
municated a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.,  of 
Nev7  York,  then  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  since  1885  "United  States  General 
Agent  of  Education  in  Alaska,"  in  which  he  urged  the  estab- 
lishment by  the  Moravian  Church  of  a  mission  in  Alaska  among 
the  Indians  and  Eskimos.  Instrumental  himself  in  founding 
the  Presbyterian  mission  at  Sitka  a  few  years  before.  Dr.  Jack- 
son considered  the  Moravian  Church  to  be  especially  fitted  for 
this  much-needed  work,  in  view  of  the  long  experience  of  Mora- 
vian missionaries  in  evangelizing  tribes  of  degraded  savages ; 
and  stated  that  he  had  unsuccessfully  applied  to  other  denomi- 
nations on  behalf  of  these  neglected  heathen.  The  society 
having  favorably  entertained  his  appeal,  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Department  of  Missions,  Adolphus  Hartmann,  missionary 
among  the  Indians  in  Canada,  and  William  H.  Weinland,  a 
member  of  the  graduating  class  of  the  theological  seminary  at 
Bethlehem,  were  appointed  to  undertake  a  tour  of  exploration. 

Steaming  out  of  San  Francisco  on  May  3,  1884,  in  the  U.  S. 
Revenue  Cutter  Corzvin,  they  reached  Unalaska  on  May  16, 
and  thence  proceeded  in  the  Dora,  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company,  across  Bering  Sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Nushagak. 


544 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Here  was  a  Greek  church  whose  priest  claimed  the  district  of 
the  Nushaj^ak  and  Togiak  Rivers  as  his  parish.  Passing  on  to 
the  Knskokwim,  they  traveled  up  this  river  beyond  Kolma- 
kovsky  in  two  large  bidarkas.  Their  interpreter  was  Mr.  Lind, 
an  agent  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company.  The  natives 
they  found  approachable.  The  land  seemed  to  be  prevailingly 
flat,  sandy  soil  on  either  side  of  the  river,  covered  with  tundra, 
though  wooded  mountains  appeared  in  the  distance.  Retrac- 
ing their  way  overland  with  the  frequent  use  of  bidarkas  to 
Knshagak,  the  return  voyage  to  San  Francisco  was  made 
without  special  event ;  and  on  September  25  they  reached  Beth- 
lehem in  safety,  recommending  that  a  mission  station  be 
founded  on  the  Kuskokwim,  near  the  native  village  of  Mum- 
trekhlagamiut,  about  eighty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

The  spring  of  1885  sees  a  company  of  missionary  pioneers  in 
San  Francisco,  en  route  for  Bethel,  as  this  projected  station  is 
to  be  named.  They  are  William  H.  Weinland  and  John  Henry 
Kilbuck,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Gelelemend,  a  Christian  king  of 
the  Delawares  in  the  last  century,  recent  graduates  of  the  theo- 
logical seminary,  with  their  wives,  and  Hans  Torgersen,  a  prac- 
tical carpenter,  who  as  a  lay-missionary  will  assist  in  establish- 
ing the  mission.  He  has  left  his  wife  at  New  Fairfield,  where 
he  has  hitherto  been  engaged.  They  charter  a  schooner,  the 
Lizzie  Merrill,  to  convey  themselves  and  their  building  material 
and  supplies  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kuskokwim,  taking  with  them 
a  small  sail-boat,  the  Bethel  Star,  with  which  to  navigate  that 
river.  Weighing  anchor  on  May  18,  they  arrive  at  the  Kusko- 
kwim on  June  19.  Before  ever  their  goods  are  all  at  the  site 
of  the  mission.  Torgersen  on  August  10  is  drowned  in  the  river. 
The  situation  is  most  serious.  Two  young  men,  utterly  inex- 
perienced in  house-building,  with  their  brides  of  a  few  months, 
face  to  face  with  an  arctic  winter,  and  not  having  a  roof  over 
their  heads ;  Kilbuck,  moreover,  suflfering  from  an  affection  of 
the  eyes  that  at  times  almost  blinded  him ;  the  material  which 
they  have  brought  for  the  construction  of  a  house  so  wet  from 
the  frequent  rains  that  they  doubt  whether  they  can  use  it ;  and, 
to  crown  all,  both  of  them  able  to  communicate  with  the  natives 
only  by  "sign  language,"  except  for  the  aid  of  Mr.  Lind.  Less 
brave  souls  might  have  searched  for  some  possible  means  of  a 
retreat.  Not  so,  these  missionary  couples.  They  dry  their 
lumber  as  best  they  can  in  the  kashima  which  Lind  kindly  places 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


545 


at  their  disposal.  They  erect  their  dwelling  according  to  the 
best  of  their  ability;  and  it  is  taken  possession  of  by  them  on 
October  lo.  They  write  concerning  this  time  of  test,  "You 
see  that  we  can  say,  'The  Lord  is  our  Helper.'  " 

The  winter,  which  soon  set  in,  was  unusually  severe.  On 
December  29,  the  thermometer  reached  50  6-10  degrees  below 
zero.  In  October  neighboring  lakes  were  like  rock  in  the  grasp 
of  the  cold ;  and  it  was  the  end  of  May  before  the  river  was 
clear  of  ice. 

In  the  summer  of  1886  a  second  station  was  founded,  in  order 
to  insure  communications,  and  named  Carmel,  on  the  Nusha- 
gak  River,  near  Fort  Alexander,  by  Frank  Wolfif,  who  resigned 
his  pastorate  at  Greenbay,  Wisconsin,  to  volunteer.  Returning 
the  same  year,  next  spring  he  proceeded  thither  with  his  wife 
and  two  children  and  Mary  Huber  of  Lititz. 

In  the  same  year,  the  summer  of  1887,  Weinland  and  his 
family  were  compelled  to  return,  owing  to  severe  sickness — a 
retreat  which  preserved  them  for  a  successful  career  of  pioneer 
mission-work  in  Southern  California ;  but  it  was  too  late  to 
send  reenforcements  to  Bethel. 

A  weary,  weary  time  was  the  early  part  of  the  winter  of  1887 
to  1888  at  the  lonely  outpost  of  civilization  and  Christianity  on 
the  Kuskokwim.  Work  enough  there  was  to  do.  At  times 
troops  of  natives  covered  with  boils,  the  heritage  of  a  period  of 
semi-starvation,  clamor  for  salves  and  medicines ;  the  school 
must  be  taught,  its  seventeen  children  clothed  and  fed — often 
washed,  or  even  disinfected,  when  first  received ;  there  is  a  log- 
house  to  be  built  with  native  help ;  there  are  heavy  parental 
anxieties  about  Httle  Katie,  the  missionaries'  child,  and  some- 
times the  utter  cruelty  of  the  unfeeling  heathen  is  such  that  it 
would  depress  any  except  the  stoutest-hearted. 

But  dawn  is  at  hand.  It  is  the  Passion  Week,  1888.  Daily 
services,  such  as  are  customary  throughout  the  Moravian 
world,  have  been  commenced  on  Palm  Sunday.  Twice,  or  even 
thrice  a  day,  there  have  been  natives  who  are  willing  to  listen 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  to  two  hours  at  a  time,  to  what  of  the 
language  the  missionary  can  command.  It  is  Good  Friday. 
He  is  explaining  that  the  blood  shed  by  Jesus  Christ  on  the 
cross  was  for  the  taking  away  of  all  sin,  when  some  of  the  older 
men  exclaim,  "Kou-jd-nah!  (Thanks)  We,  too,  desire  to  have 
our  badness  taken  away  by  that  blood."  It  is  Easter  Sunday, 
36 


546 


A  HISTORY  OF 


at  day-break,  and  forty  people  have  gathered  about  the  grave 
of  Torgersen.  They  sing,  in  the  native  language,  three  hymns 
of  the  Resurrection.  It  seems  the  message,  that  "He  died  for 
our  sins  and  rose  again  for  our  justification,"  is  balm  for  the 
wounds  of  the  hearts  of  Eskimos,  as  well  as  of  the  Caucasians 
who  have  sent  the  messenger,  and  of  the  Indian  messenger  who 
brings  them  the  glad  tidings.  They  leave  the  grave,  having 
sung  "Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow." 

A  number  of  natives  soon  apply  for  membership  in  the 
church — some  have  already  months  ago  hinted  at  such  a  desire, 
before  they  realized  the  full  significance  of  this  step.  A  period 
of  instruction  and  probation  follows,  and  on  September  lo, 
1888,  eight  are  gathered  in  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  mission 
amongst  the  Eskimos  in  Alaska. 

On  May  12,  1888,  Ernest  Weber,  of  Gracehill,  Iowa,  who  had 
volunteered  and  had  been  ordained  for  service  in  Alaska,  left 
San  Francisco,  and  arrived  at  his  destination  on  June  16.  He 
is  soon  quite  at  home  in  his  work,  his  arrival  making  it  possible 
to  hasten  the  erection  of  the  log-house  planned  for  a  school  and 
chapel. 

At  the  beginning  of  December  he  takes  Kilbuck's  place  as 
teacher  in  the  school,  for  the  latter  on  the  third  of  the  month 
starts  of?  with  a  dog-team  for  a  five  weeks'  visit  to  Carmel, 
where  he  would  confer  with  the  missionaries  about  their  work. 
But  though  man  may  propose,  it  is  God  who  disposes.  .  The 
difliculties  of  travel  and  the  heavy  rains  so  prolong  the  journey 
thither  that  Christmas  has  passed  before  he  reaches  the  other 
mission-station.  Then  terrible  storms  and  intensest  cold  delay 
the  return.  Seventy-three  days  elapse  before  he  reappears  at 
home,  like  one  risen  from  the  dead,  "his  hair  and  beard  long 
and  his  face  all  covered  with  black  spots  where  it  had  been 
frozen."  The  thermometer  during  this  period  had  registered 
59°  below  zero.  It  had  been  a  miracle  that  he  got  through  with 
his  life.  "No  wood  but  green  willow  brush  to  burn,  and  very 
little  food  to  be  gotten  for  his  teams  of  fifteen  dogs."  Mean- 
time his  wife,  worn  out  with  overwork  at  home,  had  been  seized 
with  serious  illness,  and  was  confined  for  several  weeks  to  her 
bed.  Yet  grace  sustained  her,  so  that  she  could  write :  "Never 
before  did  I  feel  the  nearness  and  dearness  of  my  Saviour  so 
thoroughly." 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


547 


This  visit  to  Carmel  made  it  possible  to  send  tidings  home 
in  February  instead  of  mid-summer,  by  the  kind  offices  of  Lord 
Lonsdale,  who  was  about  to  close  an  adventurous  tour  in  the 
arctic  regions.  Already  the  conviction  had  become  fixed,  that 
additional  help  should  be  sent  to  both  stations,  and  a  call  had 
gone  forth  for  volunteers.  Now,  it  appeared  as  though  the 
brave  woman  who  had  so  long  toiled  to  the  utmost  of  her 
strength  without  female  help  at  Bethel  might  be  compelled  to 
return  home,  for  a  time  at  least.  The  news  sent  a  thrill  through 
the  Moravian  Church  in  America.  Fully  nineteen  volunteers 
came  forward  for  service  in  Alaska.  Two  were  selected.  John 
Herman  Schoechert,  of  Watertown,  Wisconsin,  who  was  subse- 
quently ordained,  was  appointed  to  go  to  Carmel ;  and  Carrie 
Detterer,  of  Riverside,  New  Jersey,  a  daughter  of  a  former  pas- 
tor of  the  Moravian  congregation  there,  was  chosen  for  Bethel. 
In  addition,  the  wife  of  Bishop  Henry  T.  Bachman,  one  of  the 
Provincial  Elders  of  the  American  Moravian  Church,  North, 
offered  to  go  to  Bethel  for  one  year,  with  her  youngest  son,  in 
order  to  give  Mrs.  Kilbuck  the  rest  she  so  much  needed. 

Accordingly  this  new  company  of  missionaries  sailed  from 
San  Francisco  on  May  15,  1889,  separating  at  Unalaska,  to 
arrive  safely  at  their  respective  destinations  about  a  week  apart 
in  June.  At  Bethel  health  had  been  restored  to  Mrs.  Kilbuck, 
so  that  her  absence  from  her  post  was  not  required.  About 
twenty  children  were  attending  the  school.  The  little  congre- 
gation numbered  twenty-two,  not  counting  the  missionaries. 
At  Carmel  the  absence  of  the  Greek  priest,  who  had  left  for  San 
Francisco,  rendered  labor  more  agreeable.  During  the  sum- 
mer the  ministrations  of  Wolfif  to  the  men  of  the  canneries 
seemed  to  be  not  wholly  resultless.  Louis  Giinther,  a  German 
sailor,  had  confessed  his  faith  and  joined  the  church.  Two  of 
the  girls  of  the  school  were,  moreover,  candidates  for  member- 
ship in  the  church.  Here  the  number  of  scholars  in  October, 
1889,  was  thirty-one. 

In  this  year  a  "Brief  Grammar  and  Vocabulary  of  the  Eskimo 
Language  of  North-Western  Alaska"  was  prepared  and  published 
by  Augustus  Schultze,  D.D.,  President  of  the  Moravian  College 
and  Theological  Seminary,  as  a  help  to  future  missionaries.  A 
new  and  greatly  enlarged  edition  came  out  in  1894. 


548 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXVIII. 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  CLOSING  YEARS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

Vigorous  maintenance  of  active  interest  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  missions  among  the  heathen,  as  manifested  in  the  volunteer- 
ing of  men  and  women  already  in  the  active  service  of  the  home 
churches,  in  the  hearty  approval  of  the  inception  of  new  spheres 
of  activity  and  in  the  zealous  cooperation  for  the  removal  of 
financial  burdens  resting  on  the  work — this  appears  a  marked 
trait  of  the  life  of  all  portions  of  the  Unity  during  the  decade 
now  in  review.  The  British  and  American  divisions  in  particu- 
lar feel  and  heartily  respond  to  the  world-wide  movement  for 
the  culture  of  the  religious  life  of  the  young  through  the  agency 
of  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  kindred  organizations. 
All  the  Provinces  are  afYected  by  the  drift  of  population  to  the 
cities,  involving  the  removal  thither  of  those  in  search  of  a  live- 
lihood or  a  career,  in  many  instances  tending  to  deplete  the 
centers  of  Moravian  operation,  and  rendering  the  maintenance 
of  the  old  institutions  identified  with  the  inner  life  of  the  con- 
gregations on  the  continent  of  Europe  a  matter  of  increasing 
difficulty. 

For  the  German  Province  the  decade  proved  critical  in 
various  ways.  It  became  evident  that  the  old  financial  arrange- 
ments involved  in  the  Diacony  system  must  give  place  to  a  some- 
what less  centralized  and  less  closely  interconnected  method. 
In  place  of  the  general  federation  of  the  congregations  and 
choirs,  a  measure  of  local  independence  and  local  responsibility 
must  be  devised  without  destroying  a  general  community  of 
interests.  In  a  modified  form  it  was  for  German  Moravianism 
the  counterpart  of  the  problem  which  had  confronted  American 
Moravianism  in  a  far  less  intricate  fashion  in  the  fifties  of  the 
century  now  closing.  The  solution  was  hastened  by  the  experi- 
ence of  heavy  losses  in  the  business  establishment  maintained 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


549 


by  the  church  in  St.  Petersburg,  which  necessitated  its  being 
closed  in  1890.  Therewith  the  very  influential  Diaspora  activity 
in  the  Russian  capital  came  to  an  end  in  the  following  year. 
Affairs  were  next  compHcated  by  troubles  in  Sarepta.  In  con- 
travention of  the  privileges  accorded  by  the  imperial  ukase 
which  was  the  charta  of  this  congregation's  foundation,  on  July 
30,  1 89 1,  a  Russian  official  appeared  before  the  church  council 
and  demanded  the  cessation  of  the  civil  regulations  inseparably 
connecting  the  religious  and  the  communal  life  of  the  village, 
and  declared  the  warden  deposed.  The  demands  involved  the 
diversion  of  church  property  to  the  commune  and  the  inter- 
ference of  the  people  of  the  commune  in  the  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  the  Moravian  congregation.  Accusation  of  mal- 
feasance in  office  was  brought  against  the  warden  because  of 
his  acting  in  accordance  with  congregation  rules  and  adminis- 
tering affairs  in  the  interests  of  the  Moravian  Church  and  not 
in  the  interests  of  the  commune.  Government  required  the 
identification  of  the  commune  with  the  congregation  and  the 
recognition  of  every  member  of  the  commune  as  ipso  facto  a 
member  of  the  Moravian  congregation.  Church  discipline  was 
thus  made  impossible.  Unfortunately  personal  interests  led  a 
portion  of  the  membership  of  the  congregation  to  acquiesce  in 
the  demands.  Nothing  was  left,  but  that  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference  must  recall  the  pastor  and  his  assistant  together 
with  the  warden  and  on  March  20,  1892,  communicate  to  the 
people  of  the  place  the  decision  that  Sarepta  could  no  longer 
be  recognized  as  a  congregation  of  the  Brethren's  Unity. 

Other  shrinkages  of  the  period  were  the  union  of  Goldberg 
with  Gnadenberg  and  the  abrogation  of  a  separate  establish- 
ment in  Norden,  in  1891  and  1898.  On  the  other  hand  in  1892 
Breslau  received  recognition  as  a  congregation  and  in  1893  Rix- 
dorf  was  separated  from  Berlin,  and  given  an  independent 
organization. 

In  view  of  the  Russian  experiences  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
chief  attention  of  the  Provincial  synod,  in  session  in  Herrnhut 
from  June  13  to  ]n\y  2,  1892,  and  in  adjourned  session  from 
September  25  to  October  30,  1893,  Bishop  Richard  and  WilUam 
Schultze  respectively  presiding,  should  devote  its  attention  to 
a  complete  revision  of  the  Provincial  constitution,  a  rearrange- 
ment of  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  congregations 
and  a  reconstruction  of  the  entire  financial  svstem  and  busi- 


550 


A  HISTORY  OF 


ness  methods  of  the  Province  and  of  its  congregations.  In  the 
interval  between  the  two  sessions  of  the  synod,  and  on  the  basis 
of  resolutions  preliminarily  adopted,  a  special  committee  of  nine 
in  conjunction  with  the  governing  board  of  the  Province 
worked  out  the  details  of  the  proposed  reconstruction,  which 
was  referred  to  the  synod  in  its  adjourned  convocation  and  duly 
considered,  amended  and  approved.  Practical  unanimity  pre- 
vailed. Neuwied  and  Zeist,  however,  in  the  application  of  the 
principles  arrived  at,  dissented  in  respect  to  certain  details  con- 
nected with  the  declaration  that  all  business  undertakings  car- 
ried on  for  the  church  should  henceforth  become  the  property 
of  the  Province  as  a  whole.  Special  exceptions  were  made  in 
reference  to  these  two  congregations.  Further  consequences 
of  the  principles  now  agreed  upon  were  worked  out  by  the  Pro- 
vincial synod  which  met  on  May  27,  1894,  and  remained  in  ses- 
sion almost  five  weeks.  Now  at  length  the  new  Church  Book 
{Kir chcnor dining)  with  practical  unanimity  was  finally  consti- 
tuted the  law  of  the  Province.  According  to  its  terms,  the 
administration  of  Provincial  affairs  should  henceforth  reside  in  a 
board  known  as  Die  Deutsche  Unitiits-Direktion,  divided  into  two 
departments :  one  having  charge  of  all  spiritual  and  educational 
affairs,  consisting  of  five  brethren,  and  one  of  three,  having 
charge  of  all  financial  and  secular  matters.  Each  department 
should  be  measurably  independent  of  the  other,  but  should  sub- 
mit its  decisions  and  transactions  to  the  other  for  review,  and  in 
certain  cases  the  two  should  act  together,  constituting  one  board 
over  against  the  state  and  in  all  legal  transactions.  In  the  con- 
stitution of  the  synod  provision  was  made  for  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  laymen.  Official  members  should  be :  the  members  of 
the  Directing  Board,  two  representatives  of  the  Department  of 
Missions  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference ;  the  Bishops  resid- 
ing in  Germany  (until  the  next  general  synod) ;  the  Director  of 
the  theological  seminary.  Elected  members  should  be :  three 
Brethren  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  Diaspora,  called  by  the 
Directing  Board ;  twelve  representatives  of  the  clergy ;  repre- 
sentatives of  the  congregations,  grouped  together  into  seventeen 
groups,  but  sending  representatives  in  proportion  to  their  mem- 
bership— one  from  those  with  500  members  or  less,  two  from 
those  with  more  than  500  but  less  than  1000,  and  three  from 
those  having  1,000  or  more  members.  In  place  of  the  two 
boards  hitherto  existing  in  each  congregation,  th^re  was  to  be 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


one  board,  the  Elders'  Council,  which  was  entrusted  with  the 
administration  of  all  matters,  spiritual  and  temporal,  connected 
with  the  congregation.  This  Council  was  to  consist  of  the  pas- 
tor and  co-pastor  and  the  chaplain  of  the  unmarried  men,  and 
of  from  three  to  eleven  members  elected  by  the  congregation 
and  holding  office  for  six  years,  the  terms  being  so  arranged 
that  half  the  number  were  to  be  elected  every  three  years.  A 
separation  having  been  effected  between  the  property  of  the 
Province  and  that  of  the  congregations,  the  following  arrange- 
ments were  effected  for  the  payment  of  current  expenses :  The 
Province  as  such  should  pay  the  costs  of  administration  and  the 
salaries  of  all  who  receive  appointment  from  the  Directing 
Board,  including  pensions ;  the  expenses  of  the  educational 
establishments,  in  so  far  as  the  income  of  each  is  insufficient; 
certain  costs  of  the  Diaspora  work ;  contributions  to  the  Unity 
as  a  whole  and  certain  special  expenses.  Each  congregation 
should  meet  the  needs  of  its  local  requirements,  save  in  refer- 
ence to  the  salaries  of  pastors. 

Time  was  needed  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  these  far-reach- 
ing changes.  William  L.  Kolbing  was  commissioned  to  visit 
the  separate  congregations,  and  rearrange  the  business  affairs, 
attending  to  all  legal  requirements.  Accordingly  the  first  elec- 
tion of  Elders'  Councils  in  the  several  congregations  took  place 
in  September,  1895.  Meanwhile  the  Saxon  Government  recog- 
nized the  Brethren's  Church  as  a  body  corporate,  under  the  title 
of  "Die  cvangclischc  Briidcr  Unitdt  in  Dcittschlatid,"  and  gave 
legal  status  to  the  two  Saxon  congregations.  Similarly  by  an 
edict  on  June  2,  1894,  the  Mission  Board  had  received  corporate 
rights  under  the  title  of  "Die  Missions-anstalt  der  Evangelischen 
Briidcr  Unitdt." 

The  year  1897  was  again  memorable  for  the  convocation  of 
the  synod,  from  September  23  to  October  30.  Apart  from  its 
serving  to  prepare  for  the  general  synod  of  1899,  its  chief  busi- 
ness was  an  inquiry  into  the  work  of  the  theological  seminary 
at  Gnadenfeld,  of  which  Paul  Kolbing  was  President.  For  a 
number  of  years  earnest  apprehensions  had  been  felt  in  various 
circles,  on  account  of  the  influence  which  was  believed  to  be 
exerted  in  the  seminary  by  the  Ritschlian  type  of  theology, 
prevalent  amongst  many  of  the  scholars  of  Germany.  These 
apprehensions  had  been  shared  by  friends  of  the  church  in  the 
Diaspora  and  by  supporters  of  its  missions.    Amongst  the  mem- 


552 


A  HISTORY  OF 


bers  of  the  synod  itself,  when  it  convened,  various  views  pre- 
vailed. Whilst  some  could  declare  their  unreserved  confidence 
in  the  seminary  and  its  professors,  others  felt  that  the  critical 
tendency  could  not  be  conscientiously  tolerated,  if  it  actually 
characterized  the  teaching.  It  appeared  that  synod  had  before 
it  the  alternative,  either  to  disband  the  seminary,  or  to  continue 
it  with  changes  in  its  staflf  and  an  essential  modification  of  its 
present  methods.  At  the  same  time  it  was  admitted  that  the 
abrogation  of  the  institution  would  be  attended  with  the  most 
serious  consequences  for  the  German  Province,  whilst  on  the 
other  hand  a  complete  change  in  the  personnel  of  the  instruc- 
tors was  impracticable.  In  every  respect  the  situation  was 
anxious.  But  once  more  in  the  history  of  the  Unity  the  power 
of  prayer  was  manifested.  The  Lord  granted  a  peaceful  solu- 
tion. The  synod  did  not  degenerate  into  an  arena,  nor  did  its 
members  divide  into  two  irreconcilably  hostile  parties.  On  the 
contrary  in  brotherly  openness  the  issues  were  thoroughly 
debated.  In  brotherly  fashion  searching  inquiries  were  made 
and  met,  so  that  many  of  the  apprehensions  respectmg  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Gnadenfeld  professors  disappeared,  and  it  was  pos- 
sible to  declare  that  confidence  in  them  was  restored.  It 
became  more  and  more  evident  that  the  solution  of  the  situa- 
tion was  to  be  found  in  anew  emphasizing  the  Christo-centric 
position  of  the  theology  of  the  Brethren's  Unity.  All  true  the- 
ology must  be  unquestionably  and  definitely  founded  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement.  This  must  be  made  the  test  by  which 
to  try  the  theology  characteristic  of  Gnadenfeld.  After  the 
President  of  the  seminary  had  made  a  complete  statement  in 
the  name  of  and  in  conjunction  with  his  colleagues  in  reference 
to  this  test,  by  a  vote  of  forty-three  to  four  synod  expressed  its 
conviction,  that  although  the  prevalent  theologico-scientific 
methods  of  the  age  affected  the  mode  of  presentation,  never- 
theless the  theology  of  Gnadenfeld  came  within  the  limits  of 
that  which  the  Brethren's  Church  can  tolerate,  being  in  har- 
mony with  its  teaching  concerning  the  way  of  salvation,  and  that 
the  seminary  may  continue  as  at  present  organized. 

Many  changes  had  characterized  the  administrative  Board 
of  the  Province  during  the  past  years.  As  now  constituted  it 
consisted  of  the  following:  Theodore  Bauer,  William  Jacky, 
Paul  Dober,  Bishop  Conrad  Beck  and  Paul  Reichel,  members 
of  the  Department  of  Education  and  the  Pastoral  Office,  and 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


553 


Max  Bertram,  Otto  Uttendorfer  and  Daniel  Scharf,  members 
of  the  Department  of  Finance,  with  William  L.  Kolbing  as  a 
supernumerary  member  for  the  effecting  of  legal  arrangements 
not  yet  complete.  Theodore  Bauer  became  President  of  the 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  and  Otto  Uttendorfer  Vice-Presi- 
dent. But  next  year  failing  health  compelled  the  resignation 
of  the  former,  whereupon  Bishop  Jahn  received  a  seat  in  the 
Board  and  Uttendorfer  became  President  of  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference,  with  Paul  Reichel  as  Vice-President.  Amongst  the 
changes  of  the  past,  throughout  the  Unity  special  mourning  had 
been  called  forth  by  the  deaths  of  Bishop  Richard  on  January 
31,  1894,  of  William  Schultze  on  January  4,  1895,  and  of  Ber- 
nard Becker  on  December  15,  1894.  The  two  former  had  been 
members  of  the  Board,  and  had  previously  rendered  valuable 
services  in  connection  with  the  educational  undertakings  of  the 
church,  Richard  especially  in  Switzerland,  and  Schultze  in  adapt- 
ing the  schools  to  meet  the  requirements  of  inspection  by  the 
state.  The  official  visit  of  Bishop  Richard  in  the  eighties  had 
peculiarly  endeared  him  to  the  American  congregations.  Dr. 
Becker,  as  President  of  the  theological  seminary,  in  whose  man- 
agement he  had  been  succeeded  some  time  before  his  death  by 
Paul  Kolbing,  had  added  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the 
historical  literature  of  the  Unity  and  through  his  lectures  in 
Pastoral  Theology  had  placed  a  high  ideal  before  the  younger 
ministers  of  the  German  Province.  Similarly  Herrnhut  con- 
gregation in  particular  mourned  over  the  deaths  of  Bishop  Her- 
mann Jahn  and  of  Theodore  Bauer  in  the  spring  of  1899.  The 
former,  dying  on  June  14,  for  many  years  prior  to  his  election 
as  a  member  of  the  Directing  Board  had  served  Herrnhut  as 
its  pastor,  and  was  borne  to  his  last  resting  place  amid  the  sor- 
row of  many.  The  latter  had  previously  resigned  office  on 
account  of  increasing  physical  sufiferings,  but  remained  in 
Herrnhut,  where  he  had  also  sustained  the  relation  of  co-pastor 
prior  to  taking  charge  of  the  school  for  the  children  of  mission- 
aries at  Kleinwelke  and  his  subsequent  service  in  the  Board. 
He  died  on  May  26.  The  vacancy  was  filled  by  the  election  of 
Herman  Bauer,  for  many  years  President  of  the  college  at 
Niesky.  In  like  manner  the  services  of  the  venerable  Bishop 
Henry  Muller,  who  retired  from  active  engagements  in  1896, 
and  of  Guido  Burkhardt,  who  resigned  from  the  Mission  Board 


554 


A  HISTORY  OF 


in  1894,  were  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  The  latter  became 
editor  of  the  new  Mitteilimgcn  ans  dcr  Briidergemeine. 

Meantime  the  work  of  evangelization  in  Bohemia  and  Mora- 
via, the  undertaking  of  the  entire  church,  was  beginning  to 
attain  significant  proportions.  Promptly  upon  the  adjournment 
of  the  synod  of  1869,  which  had  directed  its  inception,  steps 
were  taken  to  carry  the  resolve  into  effect.  But  until  1880 
innumerable  difficulties  stood  in  the  way.  It  was  one  thing  to 
be  filled  with  a  high  purpose,  and  quite  another  thing  to  carry 
out  that  purpose.  According  to  Austrian  law  Moravians  were 
creedless  separatists,  entitled  to  no  legal  consideration.  There- 
fore services  conducted  by  Moravian  ministers  might  be  attended 
only  by  persons  who  could  show  that  they  had  been  individu- 
ally invited  by  card,  as  to  a  social  gathering.  Prosecutions  on 
the  ground  of  attempts  to  make  proselytes  were  also  inevitable. 
The  imposition  of  fines  and  the  being  annoyed  with  all  manner 
of  vexations  were  things  to  be  expected  as  a  matter  of  course. 
But  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  resolutions  of  1869  were  to  be  carried 
out,  providence  permitting. 

On  October  16,  1870,  the  congregation  of  Pottenstein  was 
organized,  in  the  Richenau  district  so  thoroughly  occupied  by 
the  Brethren  in  former  days.  In  May  and  October,  1871,  con- 
gregations were  founded  at  Dauba  and  at  Rothwasser.  In 
August  the  prayer-hall  at  Pottenstein  had  been  dedicated. 

Now  trouble  burst  like  a  thunderstorm.  The  judge  of  the 
circuit  in  which  Pottenstein  is  situated  issued  an  order  per- 
emptorily prohibiting  Moravian  services.  But  at  the  other 
center,  which  was  in  another  jurisdiction,  for  a  time  no  notice 
seemed  to  be  taken  of  the  enterprise.  However,  before  Theo- 
bald Wunderling,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  charged  with 
the  oversight  of  the  mission,  arrived  at  the  place  when  on  his 
way  to  install  Eugene  Schmidt  in  October,  the  judge  of  the  dis- 
trict forbade  the  services,  and  further  threatened  Schmidt  with 
banishment  if  he  attempted  to  baptize.  He  applied  to  the  pro- 
vincial government  at  Prague,  and  was  informed  that  religious 
services  would  be  within  the  law,  if  held  in  private  houses  and 
if  restricted  to  guests  who  had  received  an  invitation  individu- 
ally and  by  name.  Divine  worship  in  the  morning  of  that  instal- 
lation Sunday  was  rudely  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  police, 
one  of  whom  was  armed  with  a  bayonet.  In  spite  of  this,  the 
services  proceeded,  and  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


555 


in  the  afternoon.  Scarcely  had  the  visitors  from  Germany  left, 
when  the  officers  arrived  with  an  order  for  their  arrest  and  con- 
veyance to  the  frontier. 

In  December,  1874,  the  dedication  of  a  new  building  for  the 
orphanage  at  Rothwasser,  the  old  one  having  been  destroyed 
by  fire,  made  public  proclamation  of  the  determination  to  labor 
on  in  spite  of  obstacles,  trusting  that  the  God  of  the  fathers 
would  overrule  af¥airs  and  so  change  the  hearts  of  authorities, 
that  liberty  of  operations  might  at  length  be  secured.  But  dur- 
ing this  period  it  did  not  come,  notwithstanding  that  no  lawful 
means  were  omitted  for  the  obtaining  of  the  desired  change. 
However,  preparations  were  made  in  these  days  of  frequent  dis- 
couragement, that  the  prophecy  of  the  Zerotins  might  be  ful- 
filled, and  the  gravestone  at  Brandeis  truly  set  forth  the  future, 
that  "out  of  the  ashes  of  the  forefathers  there  should  grow  a 
blossom  and  out  of  their  deeds  ripe  fruit." 

At  length  on  March  30,  1880,  the  energetic  and  persistent 
representations  of  the  leaders  of  the  work  were  crowned  with 
reward,  in  the  issuing  of  an  imperial  edict  which  accorded  recog- 
nition to  the  Brethren's  Church  and  its  directing  board,  though 
the  resultant  negotiations  were  protracted  until  1883.  Mean- 
time Pottenstein  received  as  filials,  in  addition  to  Rothwasser, 
Tschenkowitz,  Wildenschwert,  Landskron,  Reichenau  and 
Prague.  A  significant  step  in  advance  was  the  ordination  on 
July  5,  1885,  by  Bishop  Henry  Levin  Reichel,  at  Pottenstein, 
of  Joseph  Mikulastik,  the  first  native  Bohemian  to  receive  ordi- 
nation in  Bohemia  at  the  hands  of  a  bishop  of  the  Brethren's 
Church  for  more  than  two  centuries.  Other  ordinations  fol- 
lowed. In  1889  an  important  change  was  made,  the  transfer  of 
Eugene  Schmidt  to  Dauba,  and  the  appointment  to  Pottenstein 
of  Theophilus  Reichel,  hitherto  chaplain  of  the  unmarried  men 
at  Herrnhut.  In  1890  the  endeavor  was  put  forth  to  specially 
develop  the  work  at  Prague,  by  the  stationing  of  a  local  pastor, 
Wenceslaus  Betka.  Next  year  Moravia  was  entered,  a  con- 
gregation being  organized  on  June  17,  1891,  at  Herzogwald, 
near  Hof,  of  which  Francis  Spiegler  became  the  pastor.  Dauba' 
meanwhile  blossomed  out  into  filial  organizations  at  Grottau, 
Gablonz-Reichenberg,  Jungbunzlau,  Turnau,  Hiihnerwasser, 
Bodenbach-Dux,  Leitmeritz-Lobositz  (Michsen).  Yet  the 
numbers  at  each  place  did  not  proclaim  that  the  day  of  small 
things  was  past,  and  for  the  most  part  the  membership  was 


556 


A  HISTORY  OF 


drawn  from  the  humble  in  the  land.  Nor  did  the  cunning  and 
craft  of  priestly  opposition  cease  to  render  the  efforts  of  faithful 
ministers  laborious  in  the  extreme.  Friendly  relations  were  on 
the  other  hand  maintained  with  the  ministers  of  other  evangeli- 
cal bodies  and  with  the  "Old  Catholics,"  and  the  sympathy  of 
people  of  culture  no  less  than  the  ever  accelerating  momentum 
of  the  national  movement  to  be  "free  from  Rome"  gave  reason 
to  hope  that  in  time  brighter  days  must  dawn. 

In  the  British  Province  the  policy  of  convening  annual  synods 
was  inaugurated  at  Ockbrook  in  August,  1890.  This  involved 
the  annual  election  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  but 
not  necessarily  a  change  in  the  personnel  of  the  board.  In 
point  of  fact  the  first  change  took  place  in  1894,  when  J.  Her- 
bert Edwards  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
retirement  of  Hines — and  at  that  by  an  intersynodal  election. 
In  1896  Bishop  Taylor's  declination  of  a  reelection  after  a  ser- 
vice of  twenty-two  years  as  a  Provincial  Elder  and  of  vipwards 
of  forty-seven  years  in  the  active  ministry  was  followed  by  the 
election  of  John  M.  Wilson.  Finally  after  the  death  of  Bishop 
Blandford  in  May,  1899,  Robert  Elliott  entered  the  Board. 

By  the  Ockbrook  synod  the  Messenger  was  changed  from  a 
monthly  to  a  fortnightly  periodical  and  its  form  enlarged,  Rob- 
ert Hutton  becoming  editor,  to  be  succeeded  in  1894  by  J.  M. 
Wilson,  with  Henry  England  as  his  associate,  and  after  two 
years  England  becoming  editor-in-chief,  with  Samuel  King  as 
assistant,  to  be  followed  in  two  years  by  Harold  Mumford  as 
editor,  whilst  in  1899  Wilson  once  more  assumed  the  chief 
responsibility,  King  meanwhile  retaining  his  position. 

For  the  extension  of  the  church  at  home  this  synod  was  also 
of  significance.  Kershaw's  faithful  and  successful  labor  in  Bel- 
fast had  demonstrated  the  possibihty  of  growth  in  that  busy 
center  of  industry,  whither  members  of  the  Irish  congregations 
were  removing.  Now  it  was  determined  to  commence  a  second 
enterprise.  University  Road  being  given  a  companion  in  Shank- 
hill  Road,  at  first  in  charge  of  Edwin  Zippel.  Later  the  second 
congregation  established  its  church  home  in  Perth  Street.  Nor 
was  this  the  only  move  for  the  extension  of  home  missions  dur- 
ing the  period.  In  1893  the  old  Methodist  chapel  at  Crediton 
was  leased  by  William  Gribble,  who  labored  in  the  interests  of 
the  Brethren's  Church.  In  the  same  year  the  rapid  growth  of 
a  suburb  of  the  ancient  city  of  Bedford,  known  as  Queen's  Park, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


557 


through  the  removal  thither  of  the  works  of  one  of  the  great 
railways,  led  to  the  purchase  of  land,  and  on  February  2,  1896, 
a  congregation  was  organized.  It  was  served  as  a  fihal  of  the 
church  in  St.  Peter's  parish.  The  similar  growth  of  the  town 
of  Swindon  through  its  importance  as  a  railway  center  caused 
the  renting  of  its  Good  Templars'  hall  for  services  in  1897,  the 
first  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  taking  place  on  Septem- 
ber 27,  Arthur  Ward  of  Malmesbury  being  especially  diligent  in 
furthering  the  new  undertaking,  until  in  the  summer  of  1899  it 
received  its  own  pastor,  W.  H.  Mellowes,  and  steps  were  taken 
towards  the  purchase  of  a  church  formerly  occupied  by  a  Pres- 
byterian congregation.  In  1898  at  Abbey  Hey,  a  suburb  of 
Manchester,  about  one  mile  from  Fairfield,  a  site  for  a  church 
was  purchased,  and  in  the  following  year  a  temporary  structure 
of  iron  erected.  Thus  in  various  directions  progress  charac- 
terized the  work.  Moreover  through  the  generosity  of  Mr. 
Morton  of  London,  the  liberal  benefactor  of  Moravian  Missions, 
a  new  sphere  of  usefulness  was  opened  in  the  British  Province. 
Desirous  of  supplying  rehgious  opportunities  to  the  people  of 
neglected  country  districts,  the  while  all  proselytism  should  be 
absent,  he  offered  first  of  all  in  1895  to  furnish  the  salaries  of 
five  rural  missionaries.  These  were  soon  forthcoming,  and 
commenced  to  labor  in  the  districts  about  Wickwar,  near  Bris- 
tol, and  around  Kimbolton,  Tytherton,  Woodford  and  Camp- 
den,  in  the  north  of  Gloucestershire.  In  imitation  of  the  Dias- 
pora on  the  continent,  the  purpose  was  to  promote  true  godli- 
ness and  evangelical  faith,  without  organizing  congregations, 
or  urging  a  separation  from  previous  religious  affiliations.  By 
January,  1897,  thanks  to  the  generosity  of  the  same  benefactor, 
eleven  missionaries  were  thus  employed,  and  by  the  end  of  the 
period  the  number  rose  to  twenty,  though  the  death  of  Mr. 
Morton  rendered  a  reduction  in  these  forces  inevitable. 

By  the  synod  of  1890  a  change  was  inaugurated  in  connec- 
tion with  the  college  and  theological  seminary,  the  junior  stu- 
dents being  assigned  quarters  in  the  former  boys'  school  in 
Fairfield,  whilst  the  seniors  should  attend  Edinburgh  or  some 
other  university.  Meantime  the  juniors  should  continue  to 
enjoy  the  advantages  offered  by  Owen's  College.  But  the 
synod  of  the  following  year,  at  Leominster,  found  the  experi- 
ment unsatisfactory,  and  resolved  upon  the  reconstruction  of 
the  institution,  by  providing  for  a  resumption  of  theological  lec- 


558 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tures.  In  November  Joseph  Waugh  was  appointed  President. 
In  1895  an  exchange  was  effected  between  Waugh  and  Leonard 
Hasse,  pastor  of  the  congregation  in  London. 

Ever  active  in  the  support  of  the  missions  of  the  church,  the 
British  congregations  and  their  friends  were  aroused  to  new 
interest  by  the  volunteering  of  James  Ward,  pastor  of  BalUn- 
derry,  and  his  wife  to  become  the  pioneers  of  a  new  undertaking 
about  to  be  inaugurated  amongst  the  blackfellows  of  North 
Queensland.  Together  with  Nicholas  Hey  they  set  out  in  1891, 
and  Ward's  early  death  witli  the  faithful  continuance  of  his 
brave  wife  at  her  post  served  as  an  additional  incentive  to 
fidelity  at  home.  The  death  of  James  Connor,  at  Berthelsdorf, 
January  13,  1896,  deprived  the  Province  of  the  valued  services 
of  Benjamin  La  Trobe,  Secretary  for  the  missions  in  London, 
and  editor  of  Periodical  Accounts,  being  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy 
thus  created.  His  successor  was  Charles  J.  Klesel,  hitherto 
missionary  in  the  West  Indies,  and  pastor  of  Devenport. 

Other  deaths  of  men  in  the  active  ministry  or  in  retirement 
after  long  years  of  service  deeply  moved  the  Province,  notably 
those  of  Bishop  Alexander  Hasse  in  1894,  Bishop  John  Eng- 
land and  Thomas  Hines  in  1895,  Frederick  La  Trobe  and 
Maurice  O'Connor  in  1896,  Bishop  James  La  Trobe — a  vener- 
able patriarch  of  ninety-four — in  1897,  and  Bishop  Blandford  and 
Edward  Shawe  in  1899,  the  last  receiving  his  summons 
with  startling  suddenness  whilst  on  his  wedding  tour.  So,  too, 
the  retirement  of  Joseph  H.  Willey  in  1899,  and  his  death  in  the 
following  spring,  removed  one  who  for  long  years  had  been  inti- 
mately identified  with  the  life  of  the  church  in  Britain. 

Special  importance  attaches  to  the  synod  of  Wellhouse  in 
1898,  preparatory  to  the  general  synod  of  the  following  year. 
In  1892  the  Church  Book  of  the  British  Province,  collated  by 
John  Taylor,  Advocatiis  Fratriim  in  Anglia,  had  been  issued  as 
the  authoritative  code  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  this  Prov- 
ince. Its  preparation,  adoption  and  publication  had  directed 
special  attention  to  the  study  of  the  constitution  of  the  Unity, 
and  discussion  had  been  quickened  by  a  pamphlet  issued  by 
Bishop  Buchner,  of  the  Department  of  Missions.  Furthermore 
the  synod  of  1897  had  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  pro- 
posals for  submission  to  the  present  convocation  with  reference 
to  proposed  constitutional  changes.    The  report  of  this  com- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


559 


mittee,  of  which  Edward  Shawe  was  spokesman,  embodied  the 
following  seven  main  suggestions : 

"i.  That  the  management  of  the  Missions  in  all  their  branches, 
inclusive  of  the  Home  for  Lepers  at  Jerusalem,  be  entrusted  to 
a  Board,  constitutionally  independent  of  the  German  Provincial 
Elders'  Conference. 

"2.  That  this  Board  be  called  'The  Mission  Board,'  and  con- 
sist of  five  members,  elected  by  the  General  Synod,  three  of 
them  being  respectively  regarded  as  representative  of  the  Ger- 
man, British  and  American  Provinces,  and  the  other  two  being, 
if  possible,  missionaries. 

"3.  That  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  be  discontinued. 

"4.  That  the  Department  of  the  Unity  be  discontinued. 

"5.  That  the  four  Provincial  Elders'  Conferences  shall  form 
the  supreme  board  of  appeal  from  any  Province,  each  Provin- 
cial Elders'  Conference  to  give  one  vote,  except  it  be  a  case 
when  appeal  is  made  against  one  of  the  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ferences, in  which  case  that  particular  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference shall  have  no  vote. 

"6.  That  the  Bohemian  work  be  administered  by  the  German 
Province,  with  the  assurance  of  the  financial  assistance  of  the 
other  Provinces  as  heretofore. 

"7.  That  the  several  Provincial  Elders'  Conferences  be  re- 
quested to  act  as  Advisory  Boards  to  the  Mission  Board,  as  and 
when  requested  by  that  Board." 

In  the  main  the  suggestions  of  the  committee  were  adopted 
as  proposals  of  the  British  Synod. 

Mention  should  yet  be  made  of  the  pubUcation  in  1895  of  "A 
Short  History  of  the  Moravian  Church"  by  J.  E.  Hutton,  M.A. 
(Vict.),  a  popular  account  of  the  Unity  from  its  inception  in 
1457,  presented  in  a  very  readable  style.  Its  appearance  was 
welcomed  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  as  meeting  a  felt  want. 

Meanwhile  the  American  division  of  the  church,  like  its  sister 
Provinces,  strove  to  fulfill  its  calling.  In  the  North  the  home 
missions  gradually  advanced,  one  after  another  being  admitted 
into  the  class  of  recognized  congregations,  and  new  enterprises 
were  commenced.  In  the  South  the  era  was  one  of  remark- 
able progress,  the  occupation  of  neglected  rural  districts  in  the 
vicinity  of  Salem  being  a  marked  feature  of  the  decade,  the  year 
1892  moreover  being  noteworthy  for  the  addition  of  more  than 
500  communicants  to  the  membership  of  the  Province.    In  the 


560 


A  HISTORY  OF 


North,  Spring  Grove,  Missouri,  was  organized  in  1890;  and 
Mount  Carmel,  in  Kansas,  though  failing  of  permanence,  con- 
stituted for  a  time  a  promising  mission  amongst  Scandinavian 
settlers,  and  secured  a  church  building  in  1891,  whilst  in  the 
former  year  Fort  Howard  received  Aschwaubenon  as  a  filial. 
In  1 89 1  the  two  congregations  in  North  Dakota  each  branched 
out.  Bethel  and  Casselton  being  founded,  and  in  the  same  year 
Maple  Grove  in  Ohio  was  organized  as  a  filial  of  Uhrichsville, 
whilst  in  Bethesda,  Minnesota,  a  prayer-hall  was  consecrated 
in  the  parsonage,  this  congregation  receiving  its  own  pastor  in 
the  following  year.  Furthermore  in  1892  Riverside  was  sepa- 
rated from  Palmyra,  and  became  a  separate  pastoral  charge. 
In  1894  Berea  was  separated  from  Bethany.  In  1895  William 
H.  Vogler  undertook  the  organization  of  a  congregation  in 
Indianapolis,  and  West  Rudolf  was  formed  as  a  filial  of  Cen- 
tralia.  In  1897  a  second  congregation,  Scandinavian,  the  other 
being  German,  was  formed  in  Centralia,  and  each  obtained  its 
own  pastor  and  acquired  its  own  house  of  worship  by  1899. 
Further  in  1897  Sister  Bay  was  founded  as  a  filial  of  Ephraim, 
Wisconsin. 

But  an  advance  of  peculiar  interest  was  the  new  work  under- 
taken in  connection  with  emigration  into  the  Canadian  territory 
of  Alberta.  In  the  Russian  province  of  Volhynia  families  had 
long  been  settled,  whose  acquaintance  with  the  Moravian 
Church  dated  from  the  activity  of  the  Diaspora  amongst  the  Ger- 
mans of  Poland  soon  after  the  Napoleonic  wars.  In  1884  two 
congregations  had  been  formally  organized  amongst  these 
people,  one  at  Kremenka,  the  other  at  Schadura.  Owing  to 
the  intrigues  of  the  state  clergy  government  had  adopted 
measures  so  repressive,  that  the  former  organization  had  been 
dissolved  very  shortly,  and  the  members  of  the  other  had 
migrated  to  Brazil.  Meantime  whilst  the  attempted  russifica- 
tion  of  these  Germans,  who  had  entered  Russia  in  reliance  upon 
promises  of  religious  liberty,  was  being  actively  prosecuted,  the 
thoughts  of  many  had  turned  to  the  western  continent.  The 
Canadian  government  held  out  inducements  to  intending  emi- 
grants, and  ofifered  on  very  favorable  terms  abundant  lands  well 
adapted  for  producing  cereals.  When  in  1894  word  reached 
the  persecuted  Germans  of  Volhynia,  that  land,  well-wooded 
and  fertile,  and  endowed  with  mineral  riches,  was  available  in 
the  territory  of  Alberta,  a  number  of  families  forthwith  disposed 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


561 


of  their  properties  and  set  out.  On  their  arrival  in  Canada, 
they  put  themselves  in  correspondence  with  the  Provincial  Eld- 
ers' Conference  at  Bethlehem,  constituted  of  Edward  T.  Kluge, 
Edmund  A.  Oerter  and  Morris  W.  Leibert,  elected  at  the  Pro- 
vincial synod  of  1893,  the  successors  of  Henry  T.  Bachman, 
Augustus  Schultze  and  Jesse  Blickensderfer.  Land  was  acquired 
about  eighteen  miles  from  Fort  Saskatchewan,  and  forty  acres 
secured  for  uses  of  the  church,  whilst  a  congregation  was  organ- 
ized on  May  6,  1895,  the  name  Briiderheim  being  selected. 
Then  on  the  27th  of  the  following  month,  under  yet  more  favor- 
able circumstances,  organization  was  efifected  five  miles  from 
Edmonton,  the  name  Briiderfeld  being  chosen.  Here  eighty 
acres  were  deeded  to  the  church.  Then  in  November  and  De- 
cember Morris  W.  Leibert,  by  commission  of  the  Conference 
and  the  Board  of  Church  Extension,  paid  a  visit  of  inspection, 
ministering  encouragement  to  those  who  had  ventured  so  much 
for  the  faith's  sake.  He  reported  most  favorably  in  regard  to 
both  their  spirit  of  devotion  and  the  material  prospects  of  the 
land.  The  Province  responded  to  the  appeal  for  special  aid. 
Help  also  came  from  Europe,  for  general  sympathy  was 
aroused.  In  the  summer  of  1896  Clement  Hoyler,  pastor  at 
EHzabeth,  New  Jersey,  and  WiUiam  N.  Schwarze,  a  recent  grad- 
uate of  the  seminary,  were  appointed  to  the  new  field.  A  third 
congregation,  Heimthal,  was  formed  on  July  26,  1896,  soon  after 
Hoyler's  arrival.  Churches  were  dedicated  at  the  two  older 
congregations  in  May  and  June  of  1897,  and  by  the  autumn  of 
1899  each  had  its  parsonage  and  resident  minister,  whilst  out- 
posts were  established  at  Spring  Creek  and  Limestone  Lake. 
At  the  latter  Norwegian  was  the  language  in  use,  whilst  Eng- 
lish was  spoken  at  the  former.  Moreover  in  1897  the  arrival  of 
Godfrey  Henkelmann  from  Russia,  a  school-master  and  a 
devoted  member  of  the  church,  who  was  licensed  to  preach,  fur- 
nished welcome  aid. 

Meantime,  under  the  leadership  of  two  of  its  business  men, 
Joseph  A.  Rice  and  Joseph  H.  Traeger,  the  building  committee 
appointed  at  the  instance  of  the  synod  of  1888,  had  been  dili- 
gently canvassing  the  congregations,  the  President,  Dr.  A. 
Schultze,  and  the  Resident  Professor  visiting  most  of  the 
churches  in  the  North  and  Joseph  A.  Rice  the  South.  Every- 
where the  response  was  generous,  and  the  congregation  at  Beth- 
lehem donated  a  very  eligible  site.  On  September  27,  1892, 
37 


562 


A  HISTORY  OF 


Comenius  Hall,  named  in  memory  of  the  great  Moravian  bishop 
and  educator,  could  be  dedicated  free  of  debt.  It  had  commo- 
dious appointments  for  fifty  students.  Next  year,  thanks  to 
the  lavish  liberaHty  of  Ashton  and  Louisa  Borhek,  the  mem- 
bers of  their  family  cooperating  with  special  gifts  of  memorial 
windows,  a  beautiful  chapel  was  likewise  consecrated,  in  mem- 
ory of  their  daughter,  Helen  Stadiger.  In  order  to  increase 
the  usefulness  and  efficiency  of  the  institution  thus  provided 
with  an  adequate  equipment,  and  in  order  to  keep  it  prominently 
before  the  church,  the  synod  of  1893  relieved  the  Provincial 
Elders'  Conference  of  the  ex-oMcio  trusteeship,  and  substituted 
a  specially  elected  body  of  thirteen,  the  majority  of  whom  were 
lay-men,  provision  being  made  furthermore  for  the  represen- 
tation of  every  District  of  the  Province  in  the  new  board.  Simi- 
lar boards  of  trustees  were  also  created  for  the  several  schools 
of  the  church,  and  a  larger  number  of  business  men  added  to 
the  Advisory  Finance  Board.  But  the  complete  severance  of 
the  Provincial  administration  from  the  educational  institutions 
did  not  meet  with  permanent  approval,  the  synod  of  1898,  at 
Lititz,  appointing  the  Provincial  Elders,  viz.,  Bishop  E.  A. 
Oerter  (President),  Paul  de  Schweinitz  (Treasurer  and  Secre- 
tary), and  J.  Taylor  Hamilton,  and  the  President  of  the  college 
and  seminary  trustees  ex-oificio,  and  giving  the  former  an 
advisory  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  boarding  schools.  Another 
important  measure  of  the  synod  of  1898  was  the  separation  of 
these  schools  from  the  Sustentation  Fund,  that  henceforth  the 
financial  standing  of  the  Province  as  such  should  be  no  longer 
bound  up  with  the  prosperity  of  these  undertakings  or  the 
reverse. 

In  its  character  as  a  preparatory  synod,  this  convocation 
approached  the  constitutional  problems  from  a  standpoint  differ- 
ing from  that  of  the  British  synod.  It  asked  for  the  creation 
of  a  central  executive  for  the  entire  Unity,  to  which  the  several 
Provincial  Elders'  Conferences  should  be  in  certain  respects 
subordinated,  as  are  the  governments  of  the  several  States  of 
the  American  Union  to  the  national  government.  At  the  same 
time  this  central  executive,  constituted  of  representatives  of  the 
various  Provinces  of  the  church,  should  be  charged  with  the 
administration  of  the  missions. 

Meanwhile  in  the  South,  Centerville  had  been  organized  in 
1887,  Calvary  chapel  was  built  in  Winston  in  the  latter  part  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


1889;  Fulp  and  Wachovia  Arbor  were  founded  in  1893;  the 
organization  of  Christ  Church  in  Salem,  Mayodan,  Mizpah, 
Bkiff,  Pleasant  Fork,  Enterprise  and  Moravia  followed  in  1896; 
Advent  in  1897,  and  Willow  Hill  and  Union  Cross  in  1898.  In 
the  autumn  of  1892  a  remarkable  awakening  marked  the  life  of 
the  Girls'  School  at  Salem,  now  numbering  more  than  300 
scholars,  about  three-fourths  of  the  boarders  making  confession 
of  faith  in  Christ.  In  this  year  the  death  of  Parmenio  Leinbach 
caused  a  vacancy  in  the  Provincial  Board,  and  Bishop  Edward 
Rondthaler  and  Dr.  N.  S.  Siewers  received  as  their  new  col- 
league James  E.  Hall  of  Friedberg,  and  thus  the  Board  remained 
until  ill  health  compelled  Siewers  to  decline  a  reelection  in  the 
autumn  of  1899,  when  John  W.  Fries  took  his  place. 

Meanwhile,  especially  in  the  North,  death  had  deprived  the 
church  of  the  services  of  a  number  of  ministers  of  prominence. 
The  necrology  of  the  period  embraced  the  following  amongst 
other  names  well  known  throughout  the  American  Moravian 
Church — in  1889,  Bishop  Amadeus  A.  Reinke;  1890,  Jacob  Hoy- 
ler  and  Henry  Reiisswig;  1891,  C.  L.  Rights;  1892,  R.  P.  Lein- 
bach; 1893,  F.  W.  Detterer,  J.  J.  Detterer  and  Francis  WoUe; 
1894,  Francis  R.  Holland  and  Edwin  G.  Klose ;  1895,  J.  G.  Kal- 
tenbrunn;  1896,  Bishop  Henry  T.  Bachman;  1897,  C.  C. 
Lanius — a  roll  of  honor,  men  closely  identified  with  the  advance 
of  the  church  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 

With  the  constant  extension  of  operations  Moravian  Mis- 
sions during  the  closing  years  of  the  century  became  more  than 
ever  a  work  of  faith.  To  the  pieviously  existing  fields  four 
were  added  in  1890 — Trinidad,  California,  North  Queensland 
and  Nyasaland,  and  in  1896  Urambo  in  Unyamwesi,  in  German 
East  Africa. 

The  first  practically  constituted  an  extension  of  the  West  In- 
dian work,  a  considerable  nucleus  of  members  being  to  hand, 
emigrants  from  less  fortunate  centers  of  industry  in  British  or 
Danish  islands.  Commenced  by  way  of  experiment  at  St.  Made- 
leine, in  1892  a  church  was  dedicated  on  August  2  in  the  capital. 
Port  of  Spain,  Marc  Richard  being  in  charge.  Later,  out-sta- 
tions were  established  at  Chaguanas  and  Manantao.  In  a  few 
years  nearly  five  hundred  members  were  enrolled,  and  the  enter- 
prise could  be  regarded  as  an  important  strategic  point  for  labor 
in  behalf  of  the  eighty  thousand  Coolies  of  the  island. 


564 


A  HISTORY  OF 


In  California  the  destitute  condition  of  the  "Mission  Indians," 
former  proteges  of  the  Roman  Cathohcs,  but  forsaken  for 
nearly  sixty  years,  since  the  secularization  of  the  church  by 
Mexico,  had  appealed  to  the  Women's  National  Indian  Asso- 
ciation. In  turn  these  ladies  had  appHed  to  the  Moravian 
Church,  and  William  Weinland  had  been  sent  on  his  recovery 
from  the  effects  of  the  Alaskan  climate.  Potrero,  "The  Ramona 
Mission,"  was  speedily  founded  near  Banning,  and  in  1896  Mar- 
tinez in  the  desert  was  occupied  by  David  Woosley. 

The  call  to  Queensland  came  from  the  Federal  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Australia,  the  veteran  Hagenauer 
having  made  a  tour  of  exploration.  The  Presbyterians  offered 
to  bear  the  cost,  if  the  Moravians  would  furnish  the  mission- 
aries for  the  cannibal  blackfellows.  James  Ward  and  his  de- 
voted wife  volunteered  to  leave  their  comfortable  parsonage  at 
Ballinderry,  and  Nicholas  Hey  accompanied  them.  They 
selected  Mapoon,  near  Cullen  Point,  within  the  north-western 
corner  of  Cape  York  Peninsula,  as  the  scene  of  operations,  and 
soon  gained  the  confidence  of  the  dangerous  savages,  through 
their  influence  moreover  securing  kind  treatment  for  a  ship- 
wrecked crew  in  place  of  barbarity.  Ward's  early  death  from 
fever,  January  3,  1895,  was  a  severe  blow.  But  his  brave  wife 
and  her  sister,  with  her  brother-in-law.  Hey,  maintained  their 
post,  and  next  year  were  rewarded  with  the  baptism  of  the  first 
converts.  In  1897  Edwin  Brown  commenced  the  establishment 
of  a  second  station,  at  Weipa,  somewhat  farther  south. 

The  Nyasa  Mission  originated  in  the  receipt  of  a  large  and 
quite  unexpected  legacy  from  a  gentleman  of  Breslau,  John 
Daniel  Crakau,  who  died  in  1887,  combined  with  an  appeal  from 
the  well-known  Alexander  Mackay  of  Uganda  conjointly  with 
Bishop  Parker  of  Equatorial  Africa,  in  1888.  Other  missionary 
leaders,  like  Dr.  Warneck,  urgently  seconded  this  call.  The 
directors  of  the  East  Africa  Colonial  Company  in  Berlin  assured 
Bishop  Buchner  of  their  readiness  to  cooperate  in  ways  within 
their  power.  Accordingly  in  the  spring  of  1890  Theodore 
Meyer,  Theophil  Richard,  George  Martin  and  John  Hafner  set 
out  for  the  country  to  the  north  of  Lake  Nyasa,  via  the  Suez 
Canal,  Zanzibar  and  the  Shire  River.  Martin's  grave  paved 
the  way  for  the  advance,  at  Kararamuka,  and  all  suffered  from 
fever.  But  Rungwe  was  founded  among  the  Konde  people  in 
August.    Other  coadjutors  came  out.    Fever  proved  fatal  to 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


three  of  these.  But  Rutenganio  and  Ipiana  were  founded  in 
1894  and  Utengule,  among  the  Safuas  and  Sangos,  in  1895. 

This  commencement  of  operations  north  of  Nyasa  led  the 
London  Missionary  Society  in  1896  to  ask  the  Moravian  Board 
to  take  over  the  unsuccessful  mission  at  Urambo,  in  Unyam- 
wesi,  lying  in  the  heart  of  the  German  colony.  After  consider- 
able hesitation  and  a  period  of  delay  the  Board  became  con- 
vinced of  the  Lord's  leading,  and  accepted  the  additional  respon- 
sibiHty,  Edmund  Dahl  and  Conrad  Meyer  being  sent  from  the 
Mission  Institute,  and  Rudolph  Stern  being  transferred  from 
Surinam  to  serve  as  superintendent.  In  the  Nyasa  district  bap- 
tisms began  to  reward  ef¥ort  in  February,  1897,  notwithstand- 
ing the  barriers  of  an  exceeding  difficult  speech.  Thus  the 
Moravian  Church  practically  assumed  responsibility  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  vast  region  constituting  the  western  half 
of  German  East  Africa. 

Small  wonder  that  the  men  in  charge  of  mission-administra- 
tion were  often  driven  to  their  knees.  As  elected  by  the  synod 
1889  the  Department  of  Missions  was  constituted  of  James  Con- 
nor, Guido  Burkhardt,  Benjamin  Romig  and  Charles  Buchner. 
In  1894  Burkhardt  resigned  owing  to  considerations  of  health, 
and  Connor  was  called  home  in  1896.  Their  places  were  taken 
by  Otto  Padel,  superintendent  in  South  Africa,  East;  and  Ben- 
jamin La  Trobe,  Secretary  of  the  missions  in  London. 

Small  wonder,  too,  that  with  the  steady  advance  in  the  old 
fields,  the  cost  of  the  world-wide  work  frequently  exceeded  the 
income  of  the  mission  treasury.  During  the  decade  the  annual 
cost  of  the  work  increased  by  $92,640.  Deficiencies  of  specially 
large  amounts  were  those  of  the  years  1894,  1896  and  1897,  viz., 
$26,390,  $25,334  and  $62,068.  Yet  by  the  providence  of  God 
each  was  in  its  turn  made  good,  the  last  just  before  the  con- 
vening of  the  general  synod.  That  of  1896  was  wiped  out  by  a 
single  stroke  of  the  pen  on  the  part  of  a  generous  friend  of  the 
church,  John  Thomas  Morton,  of  London,  who  had  already  on 
more  than  one  occasion  lent  liberal  aid.  At  his  death,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1897,  he  constituted  Moravian  Missions  the  bene- 
ficiary of  a  large  part  of  his  residuary  estate  under  certain 
conditions.  His  trustees  were  directed  to  pay  over  the  money, 
estimated  at  several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  during  a  period 
of  ten  years,  and  the  sums  so  received  were  to  be  used  solely  in  behalf 
of  out-posts  zvhich  should  be  thereby  developed  into  fully  equipped 


566 


A  HISTORY  OF 


stations.  The  money  should  not  be  employed  to  relieve  existing 
missions. 

In  connection  with  the  administration  of  the  missions  an 
important  step  was  taken  in  1894,  when  on  June  2  by  a  decree 
of  the  Saxon  government  the  rights  of  a  corporation  were 
extended  to  the  board,  under  the  title  of  "Missions-anstalt  der 
evangelischen  Brilder-Unitdt." 

Varied  features  characterized  the  special  fields  of  operation. 
As  for  Greenland,  a  sufferer  in  more  than  ordinary  degree 
through  shipwrecks,  four  vessels  carrying  supplies  being  lost  in 
1895,  1896  and  1897,  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that  with 
all  the  faithful  endeavors  of  the  missionaries  self-support  could 
not  be  achieved.  Meanwhile  work  among  actual  heathen  was 
no  longer  being  carried  on,  the  people  having  been  Christianized 
Under  all  these  circumstances  plain  intimations  had  been 
received  of  the  desire  of  the  Danish  government  and  church 
that  a  transfer  of  the  Moravian  stations  to  the  latter  should  be 
effected. 

In  Labrador  Albert  Martin  had  been  superintendent  since 
the  return  of  Bourquin  to  Germany  in  1889.  It  had  been  a 
decade  distinguished  by  severe  epidemics,  and  the  total  number 
of  Eskimos  in  care  of  the  mission  had  decreased,  whilst  the 
number  of  white  settlers  connected  with  the  church  had  so 
increased  as  to  counterbalance  this  loss.  The  abandonment  of 
Zoar,  whence  many  natives  had  removed  after  the  closing  of 
the  store  in  1889,  was  determined  by  the  mission  conference  in 
1893.  Ramah,  on  the  other  hand,  was  rebuilt,  and  during  the 
years  1896  and  1897  Makkovik  was  founded  to  the  south  of 
Hopedale,  Herman  Jannasch  dedicating  its  church  on  Christmas 
Day  of  the  latter  year.  And  preparations  were  made  to  estab- 
lish a  station  at  Rigolette  yet  farther  to  the  south. 

In  Alaska  the  membership  expanded  from  84  to  987  by  the 
end  of  the  year  1899.  Ugavigamiut  was  founded  eighty  miles 
up  the  Kuskokwim  from  Bethel;  Bethel  numbered  six  out-sta- 
tions, Ugavigamiut  two,  and  Carmel  three.  More  than  twenty 
native  helpers  rendered  efficient  assistance.  But  sad  experi- 
ences caused  sorrow  throughout  the  church.  To  the  dismissal 
of  three  missionaries  was  added  the  loss  by  drowning  of  Ernest 
Weber  and  his  wife  and  child  in  Kuskokwim  Bay  on  one  of  the 
last  days  in  June,  1898,  when  returning  from  furlough,  their 
small  steamer  foundering  with  all  on  board.     Upon  Herman 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


567 


Romig,  medical  missionary  at  Bethel,  devolved  the  burden  of 
leadership  on  the  Kuskokwim,  a  burden  rendered  the  heavier 
by  the  failure  of  the  vessel  with  supplies  to  make  a  landing  in 
the  summer  of  1899. 

In  1896  the  Mission  Board  transferred  to  the  Home  Mission 
Board  of  the  American  Province,  North,  the  care  of  the  work 
amongst  the  Cherokees  in  Indian  Territory,  long  languishing. 
As  a  consequence  of  national  legislation,  which  cut  down  the 
mission  farms  upon  whose  produce  the  missionaries  had  been 
largely  dependent,  to  the  paltry  size  of  four  acres  in  each  case, 
this  branch  of  activity  came  to  an  end  in  the  spring  of  1899. 
Meanwhile  the  new  work  in  California  compensated  in  some 
measure  for  this  loss. 

In  the  West  Indies  the  constant  movement  of  the  population, 
intensified  by  the  stagnation  of  the  sugar  industry,  together 
with  the  impoverishment  of  the  masses  had  rendered  the  effort 
to  attain  self-support  impossible,  though  loyal  effort  had  been 
strenuously  put  forth  and  heavy  sacrifices  made.  In  1897  the 
superintendents  of  the  eastern  islands  met  in  conference,  and 
after  thorough  discussion  agreed  to  a  general  reduction  in  the 
salaries  of  missionaries,  already  none  too  high.  However,  num- 
bers indicated  a  slight  advance — of  one  station  and  three  out- 
stations  in  the  Eastern  Province,  and  of  six  stations  or  out- 
stations  and  four  preaching-places  in  Jamaica,  whilst  the  mem- 
bership in  each  Province  was  marked  by  a  net  gain  of  rather 
more  than  one  thousand  in  ten  years.  Trinidad  was  a  new  and 
hopeful  field,  rapidly  developing  under  Marc  Richard.  Since 
1897  Edwin  C.  Greider  had  been  President  of  the  Eastern  and 
Frank  P.  Wilde  of  the  Western  board. 

For  the  Moskito  Mission  the  year  1894  was  critical  in  the 
extreme.  Then  the  nominal  suzerainty  of  Nicaragua  developed 
into  complete  ownership,  the  Reserve  being  wholly  incorpo- 
rated into  the  Republic.  Business  being  unsettled,  and  various 
regulations  altered,  the  expense  of  maintaining  the  undertak- 
ings of  the  church  was  heavily  increased.  Yet  with  all  the 
anxiety,  and  in  spite  of  many  changes  in  personnel  occasioned 
by  the  climate,  there  was  a  steady  advance,  the  number  of  sta- 
tions and  outposts  being  increased  by  five,  and  the  membership 
by  nearly  two  thousand.  Here  after  many  years  of  faithful 
labor,  Augustus  Martin  resigned  his  office  of  superintendent, 
to  be  followed  by  Augustus  Erdmann,  who  was  called  higher 


568 


A  HISTORY  OF 


within  a  year.  In  turn  William  Sieborger,  whose  translation 
of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  was  published  by  the  Herrnhut  Bible 
Society  in  1890,  assumed  the  reins. 

Demerara  suffered  a  heavy  loss  in  the  death  of  the  founder 
of  the  work  at  Graham's  Hall,  Henry  Moore,  in  November, 
1896.  John  DingAvall,  teacher  in  the  high-school  at  Bluefields, 
became  his  successor.  The  abandonment  of  the  Bel  Air  estates, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  maintenance  of  the  dikes  more  than 
absorbed  the  profits  from  the  sugar,  led  to  a  removal  from  Gra- 
ham's Hall  to  Cumming's  Lodge  prior  to  the  death  of  Moore. 
A  new  beginning  was  also  made  in  Georgetown,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  evangelize  Coolies  and  Chinese  who  were  pressing 
into  the  colony.  As  in  the  case  of  the  West  Indian  field,  the 
fluctuation  of  the  people,  and  especially  the  removal  of  many 
to  gold  diggings  along  the  Demerara  River  militated  against 
large  increase  in  numbers. 

Surinam,  where  Frederick  Stahelin  succeeded  Jonathan  Kers- 
ten  as  superintendent  in  1894,  continued  to  be  characterized 
by  growth,  a  net  gain  of  more  than  three  thousand,  and  of  five 
stations  in  ten  years.  Specially  significant  was  the  spread  of 
the  work  amongst  the  Bush  Negroes  of  the  interior,  though  the 
self-sacrifice  of  Kersten  at  Albina  demonstrated  once  more  the 
impossibility  of  a  white  man's  permanently  enduring  the  climate. 
In  189 1  the  appointment  of  the  first  Chinese  "helper,"  Lazarus 
Fu  Ahing,  gave  promise  of  happy  labor  amongst  the  immigrant 
Asiatic  heathen,  and  yet  higher  hopes  were  raised  by  the  fidelity 
of  another  Coolie  convert  and  evangelist,  Abraham  Lincoln  by 
name.  A  further  development  of  usefulness  was  the  appoint- 
ing of  a  missionary  and  two  deaconesses,  in  1897,  to  minister 
to  the  Protestants  among  the  inmates  of  the  leper  hospital  at 
Groot  Chatillon. 

South  Africa,  West,  where  the  founding  of  Etembeni  and 
Elinde,  near  Enon,  reminded  that  the  day  for  labor  amongst 
pagans  was  not  over,  though  for  the  most  part  the  work  had 
to  be  restricted  to  the  "settlements,"  rejoiced  in  a  gain  of 
rather  more  than  one  thousand  members  in  ten  years,  the  total 
rising  from  7871  to  9181.  Moreover  the  steady  advance 
towards  self-support  and  self-discipline  was  most  gratifying. 
The  increasing  tendency  of  the  young  people  to  seek  employ- 
ment in  the  towns  occasioned  a  repetition  in  Port  Elizabeth  of 
the  procedure  attended  with  such  good  results  in  Cape  Town, 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


569 


and  the  ministrations  first  of  a  native  brother  and  then  of 
Rudolph  Schmitt  prepared  for  the  establishment  of  a  congre- 
gation in  this  busy  port.  William  Bauer  dying  in  August,  1892, 
Paul  Hennig  had  been  charged  with  the  leadership  in  the 
Province. 

Similarly  in  the  Eastern  Province,  where  Ernest  van  Calker 
had  succeeded  Otto  Padel,  there  was  marked  growth,  peace  had 
blessed  the  land  and  missionary  labor  could  be  uninterruptedly 
pursued.  As  a  result  of  the  visit  of  Bishop  Buchner  in  1892- 
1893,  Tabase,  Elokolweni  and  Mvenyane  were  raised  to  the  rank 
of  stations,  and  a  number  of  out-stations  were  commenced.  The 
membership  rose  from  3671  to  5314.  Thanks  to  the  liberality  of 
Mr.  Morton  in  1896  a  training  school  for  native  teachers  and 
ministers  was  founded  at  Mvenyane. 

The  Himalayan  field,  distinguished  for  many  years  for  almost 
fruitless  toil,  and  during  this  decade  characterized  by  severe 
sickness  and  death  amongst  the  staflf  of  missionaries,  limited 
towards  the  west  by  agreements  with  other  societies  and  to  the 
east  by  the  impenetrable  boundaries  of  Tibet  proper,  gave  out  a 
gleam  of  hope,  Poo  especially  showing  signs  of  life.  The  native 
evangelists  Paulu  and  Ga  Puntzog,  boldly  itinerated  amongst 
their  countrymen.  New  outposts  were  established  at  Chot  and 
Gui,  near  Kyelang,  and  at  Scheh,  near  Leh. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1899  the  statistics  of  the  missions 
were  as  follows : 


Income  from  Home  Sources  $142,533.62 

"        "    Foreign    "  ....  128,100.00 

Total  Cost  416,007.50 

Ordained  Missionaries,  166 

Physicians  (already  included)  (2) 

Lay  Missionaries  (unordained),     ......  23 

Married  Women,  180 

Unmarried  Women  21 

Total  Missionaries  390 

Ordained  Natives,  18 

Other  Native  Helpers — Men,  1089 

"         "         Women,  756 

Total  Native  Workers,  1863 

Principal  Stations,  146 

Sub-Stations,  68 

Organized  Churches  214 

Communicants,   34.054 

Sabbath-schools,   126 

Membership  of  Sabbath-schools  18,091 

Total  Contributions  of  Native  Members,  .  .  .  $129,100 
Total  Membership  96,380 


570 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXIX. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  MISSION  IN  GERMAN  EAST  AFRICA. 

About  mid-way  in  the  route  of  the  Cape  to  Cairo  railway,  the 
great  trans-continental  Hne  of  Africa,  lies  the  sphere  of  influ- 
ence assigned  to  Germany  by  the  Conference  of  the  Powers  in 
Berlin  in  1885.  Victoria  Nyanza  and  snowy  Kilimanjaro  form 
its  northern  boundary  marks.  The  Indian  Ocean  washes  its 
eastern  shore.  Lakes  Nyasa  and  Tanganyika  fix  its  limits  to^ 
south  and  west. 

With  good  reason  Caucasians  have  been  wont  to  shudder  at 
the  thought  of  tropical  Africa.  Its  sluggish  waterways  and 
tangled  jungles  symbolize  death.  "There  the  voyager  drives  his 
paddle  through  a  waste  of  fetid  mire,  where  mangroves  spread 
their  dingy  leaves  to  hide  foul  depths  of  putrefaction  among, 
their  rotting  roots.  Sour  odors  of  decay  mingle  with  the  sickly 
sweetness  of  blossoms  in  the  hot  fever-laden  mist,  that  shrouds 
the  rankness  of  vegetation  on  either  bank  except  at  noon." 
Such  a  characterization  suits  the  flat  lowlands  of  equatorial 
Africa  near  the  sea.  But  the  East  Africa  of  Moravian  mission- 
aries is  happier  land,  though  even  here  the  white  man  must  run 
the  gauntlet  of  fever,  before  reaching  the  healthier  highlands. 

Directly  north  of  Lake  Nyasa,  and  to  east  and  west  of  its 
northern  end,  rise  mighty  peaks  joined  by  glorious  ranges  of 
hills.  Six  to  seven  thousand  feet  are  often  reached.  Rungwe 
towers  up  nearly  ten  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  Here  on 
one  of  the  foot  hills  is  a  point  occupied  by  white  men  early  in 
the  nineties.  Amid  a  clearing  on  this  mountain,  about  four 
thousand  feet  up,  houses  of  brick  with  shady  verandahs  and 
thatched  roofs  form  their  homes.  Rungwe  rears  its  mighty 
head  three  miles  to  the  northeast.  Its  precipitous  sides  are 
mostly  naked  rock.  Yet  soft  grass  clothes  the  ledges,  and  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  passes  and  in  the  ravines  a  luxuriant  forest 
growth  abounds.    About  the  station  the  fertile  soil  has  accorded 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


a  propitious  welcome  to  fruit  trees  and  garden  plants.  Many 
springs  gush  from  the  slopes,  and  a  clear  stream  dashes  down 
a  stony  ravine.  The  air  is  pure,  and  the  cHmate  healthy  though 
hot.  To  south  and  southeast  and  west  and  north  the  charms 
of  Kondeland  lie  spread  to  view,  the  east  shut  in  by  the  great 
wall  of  the  Livingstone  Range,  twelve  thousand  feet  high  and 
more.  Elsewhere  the  lofty  fertile  plateau,  broken  by  peaks  and 
cut  by  gorges,  presents  glimpses  of  villages  of  round,  conical 
roofed  huts,  peeping  out  from  among  glossy  dark  green  banana 
groves  or  well  tilled  fields  of  maize  or  mighty  forests  of  mag- 
nificent Muave  trees,  the  lindens  of  Kondeland.  Gigantic  tree 
ferns  curtain  the  steeps,  down  which  mountain  torrents  roar. 
In  the  long  grass  of  the  lowlands  bufifaloes  and  wild  swine  and 
panthers  and  hyenas  are  hiding.  Twenty-five  miles  away  shim- 
mers the  clear  blue  of  the  great  lake. 

Here  dwells  a  veritable  tangle  of  tribes.  They  all  belong  to 
the  superior  Bantu  stock ;  but  the  internecine  wars  of  centu- 
ries and  the  raids  of  Arab  slavers  have  driven  to  these  highlands 
a  variety  of  peoples,  distinguished  by  differences  of  speech  and 
tribal  pecuHarities.  An  inability  to  organize,  reciprocal  strife 
of  village  with  village,  unconditional  subjection  to  their  petty 
chiefs,  and  the  insidious  corruptions  of  Arab  slavers,  who  intro- 
duce weapons,  powder  and  brandy,  the  while  they  foment 
mutual  strife,  explain  in  large  measure  the  failure  of  the  men 
of  equatorial  Africa  to  work  out  a  worthy  destiny. 

The  people  themselves  present  traits  of  superiority,  as  com- 
pared with  other  Africans.  Physically  and  intellectually  the 
Bantus  are  a  fine  stock,  manly  and  erect  in  form  and  gait. 
Their  women,  if  clad  in  civilized  dress,  would  many  of  them 
claim  a  certain  type  of  beauty.  All  esteem  cleanliness.  Their 
houses,  circular  and  palm-thatched,  are  kept  tidy  and  their  vil- 
lages neat.  For  savages  they  are  comparatively  good-natured, 
and  peace  loving.  On  the  whole  they  enjoy  contentment  and 
happiness.    Brave  in  war,  their  fortune  is  deserved. 

Yet  after  all  credit  has  been  given,  they  remain  pagan  sav- 
ages. Mistrust,  innate  beggary,  greed,  and  unblushing  theft, 
and  amazing  conceit  and  self-righteousness  meet  in  them. 
Litigation  and  strife  over  ownership  of  cattle  constantly  dis- 
turb family  peace.  Theirs  is  a  curious  idea  of  justice.  A 
favorite  method  of  deciding  the  merits  of  a  suit  is  by  the  ordeal 
of  drinking  Muafi.    Muafi,  a  juice  pressed  from  the  leaves  and 


572 


A  HISTORY  OF 


tender  twigs  of  a  certain  tree,  is  a  strong  poison.  But  it  may- 
be so  diluted  as  to  become  only  an  emetic.  When  resort  is  had 
to  this  ordeal  the  sorcerer  prepares  the  drink  in  two  cups — and 
here  is  his  opportunity  for  fraud,  and  thereby  for  increasing  his 
influence.  The  two  litigants  drink  in  the  presence  of  the  vil- 
lagers. He  who  is  first  compelled  to  vomit  is  the  man  who  has 
justice  on  his  side.  His  opponent  must  pay  him  a  fine  of  so 
and  so  many  cattle. 

The  position  of  woman  may  be  higher  among  the  Konde 
people  than  among  many  Africans.  But  here,  too,  polygamy- 
is  limited  only  by  a  man's  abiHty  to  buy  and  keep  wives.  An 
ox  or  two  is  the  price.  An  old  man  with  adult  children  will  buy 
as  a  new  wife  a  young  girl  of  ten,  who  is  not  to  leave  her  parents' 
house  until  grown  up.  Yet  the  transfer  of  cattle  is  made. 
When  the  maiden  becomes  conscious  of  her  charms,  she  prefers 
some  stalwart  young  warrior  and  elopes  with  him.  The 
aggrieved  bridegroom  that  was  to  be  seeks  to  recover  his  cattle. 
The  father  protests  he  could  not  hinder  the  flight,  and  the  cattle 
are  his.  So  a  feud  arises  between  the  venerable  bridegroom 
and  his  younger  father-in-law  and  the  family  of  his  successful 
rival.  As  among  all  savages,  moreover,  toil  belongs  to  women. 
They  till  the  fields  of  maize,  and  gather  bananas,  whilst  lordly 
man  enjoys  the  chase,  or  glories  in  battle,  or  lolls  at  his  ease 
with  his  pipe. 

Mighty  influence  is  possessed  by  the  medicine-men,  for  firm 
belief  in  witchcraft  prevails,  and  with  it  cruel  penalties  are  im- 
posed on  those  thought  to  be  convicted  of  injuring  others 
through  its  means. 

These  people  have  some  conception  of  God,  a  conception  ele- 
vated above  that  of  fetish  worship.  Yet  dark  ignorance  and 
confused  contradictions  inhere  in  their  religious  sense  and 
usages.  That  there  must  be  a  divine  creator,  they  appreciate. 
But  his  very  dignity  renders  him  unseen,  inapproachable,  and 
carries  with  it  the  impossibility  of  a  revelation.  They  name 
him  "Mbavtba,"  the  Good,  or  "Kiara,"  the  Heaven.  He  is  abso- 
lute goodness,  but  absolutely  removed  from  men.  They  neither 
worship  him  nor  offer  sacrifices.  Yet  in  special  exigencies  the 
village  chief  may  guide  his  people  into  the  depth  of  the  forest, 
where  echoes  of  nature's  sounds  are  divine  voices.  Under  the 
chief's  lead  they  dance  there,  and  call  on  "Mbamba."  Then 
they  place  the  leaves  of  a  certain  tree  in  their  mouths,  chew 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


573 


them  lightly,  and  take  a  sip  of  beer.  Now  the  beer  is  blown 
out  through  the  leaves  as  a  fine  spray.  This  is  their  only  form 
of  devotion.  The  ceremony  concludes  with  feasting  and  dili- 
gent drinking  of  beer.  They  suppose  that  the  unseen  god 
dwells  in  the  forest  depths,  and  is  pleased  to  be  honored  thus. 

In  1 891  four  young  missionaries  of  the  Moravian  Church 
came  to  these  people  of  the  Konde  highlands.  About  the  same 
time  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society  began  operations  to  the  east. 
Isolated  in  the  almost  trackless  wilderness,  the  Moravians  com- 
menced to  build  about  forty  miles  from  the  nearest  outpost  of 
the  German  government,  with  great  mountains  intervening. 
An  utterly  unknown  language  had  to  be  learnt.  Their  base  of 
supplies,  at  Quilinave  on  the  coast,  was  several  hundred  miles 
and  several  weeks'  journey  distant.  Dreadful  fevers  were 
inevitable.  George  Martin  died  before  the  first  house  was 
built.  Other  missionaries  died  within  a  few  years.  Though  not 
hostile,  the  people  were  wholly  indiflferent,  feeHng  no  need  of 
a  Saviour  because  without  a  true  sense  of  sin.  Ingratitude  on 
the  part  of  slaves  who  were  nursed  out  of  sickness  after  being 
rescued  from  the  Arabs  by  German  soldiers,  had  to  be  endured. 

At  Utengule,  a  station  begun  some  twenty  miles  to  the  north- 
west, Chief  Merere  forbade  his  people  to  attend  the  services, 
and  for  a  time  they  refused  to  sell  provisions.  Merere  had  sold 
land  for  a  mission  with  the  purpose  of  gaining  the  white  men 
as  valuable  allies  in  war.  He  had  been  driven  from  his  old 
home  by  the  fierce  Wahehes,  and  plotted  revenge.  When  the 
favorable  time  came  he  sent  for  missionary  Theophil  Richard. 
The  interview  took  place  in  an  open  court  before  his  fortress, 
where  Merere  lay  in  the  sun  haughtily  lolling  on  an  ox-hide. 
Instead  of  consenting  to  join  the  raid,  Richard  warned  him 
against  robbery  and  murder.  But  he  spoke  only  of  victory  and 
revenge.  "Victory?"  asked  Richard,  "how  do  you  know  you 
will  conquer?  You  may  be  defeated  and  fall  in  the  fight.  In 
that  case,  are  you  ready  to  go  before  the  presence  of  God, 
whose  will  you  have  not  done?"  The  war  commenced.  A 
pitched  battle  was  followed  by  a  hasty  flight  back  to  Utengule. 
And  now  the  position  of  Richard  became  critical  indeed. 
Merere  might  vent  his  wrath  on  him  who  had  been  a  prophet 
of  evil.  The  pursuing  conquerers  might  identify  the  missionary 
with  their  foes.  But  God  held  his  hand  over  him,  and  kept  him 
safe  from  both,  though  the  breach  between  Merere  and  the 


574 


A  HISTORY  OF 


mission  now  became  fixed.  Merere  ordered  Richard  to  leave. 
But  he  refused  to  go.  Thereafter  even  in  Utengule  the  gospel 
began  to  conquer. 

At  Rungwe  pecuHar  interest  attended  the  first  baptism. 
The  missionary  Traugott  Bachman  was  to  leave  Rungwe  for 
Ipiana,  a  station  recently  established  on  the  north-west  shore 
of  Lake  Nyasa.  On  February  7,  1897,  he  preached  his  farewell 
sermon  on  the  parable  of  the  tares  among  the  wheat.  When 
he  had  closed,  all  unexpectedly  a  woman  who  had  been  under 
instruction,  Fiabarema  by  name,  arose.  She  stepped  up  to  the 
pulpit  and  said :  "I  have  risen  to  say  that  I  belong  to  God.  I 
wish  to  follow  Jesus  and  to  belong  to  Him  alone.  By  the  power 
of  God  I  must  shun  sin.  God  is  my  father."  A  death-like  still- 
ness prevailed  in  the  church  as  the  missionary  repHed,  "God 
has  heard  what  you  have  said,  Fiabarema !  Do  this,  and  God 
will  take  you  as  His  child."  Then  followed  the  closing  prayer, 
as  usual.  The  people  said,  "The  woman  is  drunk."  But  her 
confession  of  faith  had  made  a  deep  impression.  That  evening 
she  was  baptized  in  the  church,  hastilly  decorated  with  flowers, 
and  took  the  name  Numuagire,  that  is,  "I  have  found  him — 
Jesus." 

After  less  than  nine  years  the  status  of  the  work  was  as  fol- 
lows :  four  stations  were  manned  in  the  Nyasa  country,  Rungwe, 
Ipiana,  Rutengania  and  Utengule,  and  foundations  were 
being  laid  at  Mbozi  (Nika).  About  them  was  a  population  of 
from  forty-five  to  fifty  thousand  souls  according  to  the  mission- 
aries' estimate,  or  of  from  seventy  to  eighty  thousand  accord- 
ing to  the  reckoning  of  government  officials.  Nineteen  mis- 
sionaries were  engaged.  More  than  one  hundred  converts 
formed  the  membership  of  the  Christian  church  in  their  care. 
Theodore  Meyer  from  the  first  has  been  superintendent  of  the 
undertaking  in  the  Nyasa  region,  and  Theophil  Richard  man- 
ager of  its  external  interests. 

In  consequence  of  the  founding  of  this  mission,  the  church 
in  1896  took  over  from  the  London  Missionary  Society  the 
Urambo  mission  some  three  hundred  miles  to  the  north,  near 
where  the  Gombe  River  makes  its  way  towards  the  northern 
end  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  Thus,  by  agreement  with  other  mis- 
sionary organizations  on  the  continent  and  in  Britain,  the  Mora- 
vian Church  assumed  responsibility  for  the  evangelization  of 
the  western  half  of  German  East  Africa. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


575 


Moreover  the  men  and  women  who  went  thither  in  response 
to  the  call  were  characterized  by  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  best 
missionary  traditions  of  the  church.  When  prior  to  the  synod 
of  1899  the  great  deficit  rested  Hke  a  load  upon  the  undertak- 
ings of  the  Unity  and  retrenchment  appeared  inevitable,  they 
met  in  conference  to  discuss  their  relation  to  this  deficit.  They 
realized  that  East  Africa  had  entailed  heavy  outlays  since  1891. 
They  knew  also  that  it  had  involved  for  themselves  much  that 
men  reckon  as  sacrifice.  Near  them  were  the  graves  of  com- 
panions and  co-workers.  But  they  wrote  home  to  the  Board: 
■"Brethren,  if  retrenchment  is  unavoidable,  we  beg  you  not  to 
recall  us.  Rather  than  abandon  the  work  God  has  given  us, 
we  will  relinquish  claim  to  your  support,  and  will  do  our  work 
wholly  at  our  own  cost."  Resolves  like  this  are  a  wholesome 
demonstration,  that  the  instinct  of  Christianity  remains  essen- 
tially what  it  was  in  the  apostolic  age.  Happy  is  the  church 
privileged  from  time  to  time  to  receive  and  loyally  respond  to 
such  stimulus  from  its  standard  bearers  in  the  field.  Made 
universal,  and  everywhere  yielded  to,  this  spirit  would  enable 
"the  hosts  of  God  to  fill  the  whole  world  with  a  knowledge  of 
Christ  in  this  generation." 


576 


A  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LXX. 


THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OF  1899. 

For  the  last  time  in  the  century  the  general  synod  convened 
at  Herrnhut  on  May  i6,  1899.  Fifty-four  voting  members 
represented  the  several  Provinces  and  mission-fields,  and  were 
assisted  in  their  deliberations  by  nine  advisory  members. 
Special  provision  had  been  made  that  the  interests  of  the  mis- 
sions should  receive  full  attention.  In  addition  to  the  exhaus- 
tive report  of  the  Mission  Board,  their  aflfairs  were  presented 
by  the  superintendents  summoned  from  Labrador,  Jamaica, 
Antigua,  Surinam,  Cape  Colony  and  Kaflraria.  Moreover  for 
the  first  time  men  of  the  African  race  participated,  as  advisory 
members,  in  the  transactions  of  a  general  synod — ^John  Ding- 
wall, of  Demerara,  Oliver  Haynes,  of  Antigua,  and  James  Car- 
negie, of  Jamaica. 

Organization  was  effected  by  the  election  of  Morris  W.  Lei- 
bert,  of  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  as  President,  and  Otto  Utten- 
dorfer  and  Robert  Elliott  as  Vice-Presidents. 

The  divergent  action  of  the  several  preparatory  synods  in  the 
different  Provinces  had  made  it  evident  that  a  recasting  of  the 
constitution  of  the  church  was  inevitable,  and  that  it  would  be 
attended  with  difficulties.  After  much  earnest  discussion  in  the 
open  assembly  and  in  committee,  harmony  was  at  length 
attained. 

As  adopted,  section  i  of  the  constitution  enumerated  the  divi- 
sions of  the  Brethren's  Unity  in  triple  classification:  A.  the  self- 
supporting  and  independent  divisions,  foilr — the  Brethren's 
Unity  in  Germany,  the  British  Province,  the  American  Prov- 
ince, North,  and  the  American  Province,  South;  B.  the  fifteen 
Mission  Fields,  and  C.  the  Evangelical  Brethren's  Church  in 
Austria.  Section  2  provided  that  no  individual  shall  be  recog- 
nized as  a  member  of  the  Brethren's  Church  unless  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  some  congregation  in  one  particular  part  of  the  church. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


577 


Sections  3  and  4  set  forth  the  fact  that  the  general  synod  is  the 
supreme  legislative  body  for  the  whole  Brethren's  Church,  con- 
stituted of  representatives  who,  whilst  considering  the  welfare 
of  their  own  Provinces  and  whilst  in  general  being  guided  by 
the  directions  of  the  bodies  that  elected  them,  are  nevertheless 
to  be  primarily  solicitous  for  the  good  of  the  whole  church. 
Section  5  treated  of  the  functions  and  powers  of  the  general 
synod,  practically  the  same  as  hitherto ;  but  general  synod 
henceforth  relegates  to  the  various  Provincial  synods  the  right 
to  elect  the  bishops  of  the  church  in  the  self-dependent  Prov- 
inces, whilst  it  reserves  to  itself  the  power  of  electing  bishops 
for  the  work  of  missions  amongst  the  heathen.  Sections  6  and 
7  set  forth  the  constituency  of  the  general  synod  in  the  future. 
Voting"  members  are  the  following : 

A.  Ex-officio:  The  members  of  the  Mission  Board,  two  mem- 
bers of  the  governing  board  of  the  German  Province,  one  mem- 
ber of  the  governing  boards  of  each  of  the  other  self-support- 
ing divisions  of  the  church.  One  member  of  each  of  the  admin- 
istrative boards  in  the  West  Indies.  Two  bishops  from  each 
of  the  home  Provinces,  elected  by  their  Provincial  synods,  and 
finally  the  Mission  Secretary  in  London.  B.  Elected  Members: 
Nine  delegates  from  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  church, 
the  two  Provinces  in  America  being  regarded  in  this  respect 
as  one — seven  from  the  Northern  and  two  from  the  Southern 
Province ;  one  delegate  from  each  mission-field  entitled  to  such 
representation  (the  West  Indian  Provinces  at  the  present  stage 
in  their  development),  one  delegate  of  the  Brethren's  Church 
in  Austria.  C.  Not  more  than  five  missionaries,  called  by  the 
Mission  Board.  Section  7  enumerated  the  advisory  members 
of  general  synod.  Then  followed  a  number  of  details  of  minor 
significance. 

With  section  15  the  most  ftmdamental  constitutional  change 
was  reached,  rendering  the  Moravian  Church  a  federation  here- 
after rather  than  an  organic  unit.  The  Unity's  Elders'  Con- 
ference gives  place  to  a  coordination  of  the  four  several  Pro- 
vincial Boards  with  the  Mission  Board,  to  be  known  as  the 
"Directing  Board  of  the  Unity."  In  accordance  with  the 
decrees  of  the  Saxon  government  in  1844  and  1895,  it  has  its 
seat  at  Berthelsdorf.  The  President  of  the  Board  is  authorized 
to  sign  legal  documents  in  its  name.  He  is  to  be  elected  by 
the  general  synod  from  the  membership  of  the  Mission  Board. 
38 


578 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  President  of  the  Mission  Board,  however,  is  not  eligible 
for  this  office.  The  rights,  functions  and  duties  of  this  board 
are  essentially  those  of  the  former  Unity's  Elders'  Conference, 
in  so  far  as  they  can  be  assigned  to  a  board  constituted  of  dis- 
tinct corporations  at  such  a  distance  from  each  other.  The 
Mission  Board  is  empowered  to  refer  to  this  Board  of  the  Unity 
questions  of  principle  and  problems  of  weighty  importance  that 
go  beyond  the  sphere  of  mere  administration,  such  as  the 
entrance  upon  new  mission-fields  or  the  transfer  or  abandon- 
ment of  old  fields.  Should  the  Mission  Board  feel  the  neces- 
sity of  it,  a  decisive  vote  may  be  demanded,  but  in  other 
instances  a  mere  expression  of  opinion.  In  this  way  it  was 
hoped  that  the  Mission  Board  might  learn  the  will  of  the  mem- 
bership at  large.  This  general  board  will  also  decide  in  the  last 
result  with  reference  to  the  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Brethren 
in  Austria  and  the  Leper  Hospital.  The  resolutions  and  the 
results  of  the  various  Provincial  Synods  shall  be  communicated 
to  the  various  corporations  constituting  the  Unity's  Board ;  so 
also  must  resolutions  of  Provincial  Boards  which  touch  mat- 
ters of  principle  set  forth  in  the  Results  of  General  Synod,  or 
which  may  perhaps  be  held  to  clash  with  these  Results. 

During  the  next  decennial  period  the  Directing  Board  of  the 
Unity  shall  hold  meetings  in  person  two  or  three  times.  For 
this  purpose  each  corporation  shall  be  represented  by  one  dele- 
gate, with  the  exception  of  the  Mission  Board,  which  shall  send 
two  delegates.  The  six  shall  meet  at  a  place  selected  by  the 
Unity's  Board,  having  each  previously  received  instructions 
from  the  Board  he  represents.  The  entire  scope  of  the  work 
of  the  Unity's  Board  is  within  the  purview  of  the  delegates  so 
assembled.  At  all  other  times  the  current  business  of  the  board 
will  lie  primarily  in  the  hands  of  an  executive  committee  of 
three,  consisting  of  the  two  members  who  are  at  the  same  time 
members  of  the  Mission  Board  and  one  member  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Board  of  the  German  Province.  As  a  rule  each  of  the 
three  chief  nationalities  (German,  English  and  American)  shall 
have  its  representative  in  this  executive  committee.  When  any 
subject  must  be  decided  upon  by  vote,  each  of  the  Provincial 
Boards  and  the  Mission  Board  shall  have  one  vote,  five  in  all, 
the  American  church  here  counting  as  two  Provinces. 

With  section  19  of  the  constitution  the  Mission  Board  came 
into  consideration,  the  responsible  board  of  administration  for 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


579 


the  entire  work  of  evangelization  amongst  the  heathen.  Ber- 
thelsdorf  remains  its  seat.  Being  elected  by  general  synod,  of 
its  five  members  three  must  be  representatives  of  the  German, 
British  and  American  Provinces  respectively.  When  it  shall 
become  necessary  to  fill  a  vacancy  during  an  inter-synodal 
period,  if  the  vacancy  aflfects  the  representation  of  any  of  the 
home  Provinces,  the  Province  in  question  shall  first  nominate 
its  representative,  and  in  the  case  of  the  other  members  the 
remaining  members  of  the  Mission  Board  shall  suggest  the 
names  of  not  less  than  three  Brethren  from  whom  a  selection 
shall  be  made.  The  formal  election  itself  in  either  case  takes 
place  through  cooptation  on  the  part  of  the  Directing  Board 
of  the  Unity.  Whilst  the  duties  and  prerogatives  of  the  Mis- 
sion Board  remain  the  same  as  hitherto,  provision  was  made 
in  the  new  constitution  whereb}'  they  are  authorized  to  come 
to  an  understanding  with  the  board  of  each  Conference  in 
regard  to  the  manner  in  which  their  mutual  relationship  to  the 
missions,  i.  e.,  in  reference  to  calls,  education  of  candidates, 
furloughs,  pensions,  education  of  children,  etc.,  shall  be 
adjusted. 

One  of  the  most  important  transactions  of  the  synod  was  the 
resolution  to  transfer  the  mission  in  Greenland  to  the  Danish 
Lutheran  Church.  The  Mission  Board  had  previously  pre- 
pared a  mass  of  information  very  compactly  packed  into  twenty- 
eight  printed  pages.  The  proposal  was  not  new.  Ten  years 
previously  the  general  synod  contemplated  the  possibility  of 
the  step.  One  of  the  most  significant  facts  was  that  with  one 
possible  exception  the  missionaries  now  laboring  in  Greenland 
did  not  oppose  the  measure,  but  rather  welcomed  it.  In  its 
favor  were  the  following  considerations :  First,  Moravian  work 
as  a  mission  is  accomplished  in  Greenland.  There  are  no  actual 
heathen,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  to  be  found  in  Greenland, 
at  least  on  the  west  coast,  which  is  alone  really  habitable.  For 
the  few  East  Greenlanders  Denmark  has  appointed  a  minister, 
Pastor  Ryttel.  The  Eskimos  are  descendants  of  Christians  for 
several  generations.  The  ultimate  aim  of  a  mission  is  the 
upbuilding  of  a  fully  organized  and  self-dependent  national 
church.  This  will  be  an  impossible  achievement  amongst  the 
proteges  of  the  Moravian  Church,  the  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions of  their  winning  a  livelihood  rendering  intellectual  labor, 
needful  for  the  training  of  native  pastors,  out  of  the  question. 


58o 


A  HISTORY  OF 


The  State  Church,  on  the  other  hand,  which  has  the  care  of 
8,000  to  10,000  Greenlanders,  many  of  whom  are  halfbreeds  and 
more  vigorous  and  intelligent  than  the  full-blooded  Eskimos,  is 
ready  and  willing  to  assume  charge  of  the  1,700  souls  at  the 
Moravian  stations.  By  the  transfer  a  native  Greenland  church, 
can  be  established.  Further,  whilst  Denmark  recognizes  with 
gratitude  the  work  done  by  Moravians,  she  believes  that  they 
are  now  standing  in  her  way.  The  honorable  thing  for  the  suc- 
cessors of  those  who  went  out  primarily  as  assistants  of  Hans 
Egede,  is  to  withdraw,  now  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  Hans 
Egede's  successors  to  take  charge  of  the  entire  field,  and  now 
that  they  are  able  and  willing  so  to  do.  In  this  manner  an 
example  of  Christian  comity  will  be  set,  and  the  Protestant 
world  assured  that  Christian  comity  is  more  than  a  mere  theory. 
Furthermore,  the  Danish  Church  is  in  a  good  condition  to  care 
for  these  people.  A  better  state  of  spiritual  life  characterizes 
the  Danish  Church  now  than  in  many  periods  of  the  past.  There 
is  an  abundance  of  candidates  for  service  in  Greenland.  These 
candidates  learn  the  language  in  a  special  seminary  at  home, 
where  they  study  it  for  two  years  prior  to  their  appointment. 
When  appointed,  the  married  men  engage  to  serve  at  least  nine 
years  in  Greenland,  the  unmarried  at  least  six.  Some  remain 
for  life.  In  Greenland  they  are  assisted  by  native  catechists, 
many  of  them  half-breeds,  who  are  trained  for  the  work  and 
who  are  able  to  visit  the  scattered  population  with  ease,  being 
expert  with  the  kayak,  a  canoe  few  Europeans  ever  learn  to 
manage.  Finally  the  withdrawal  is  likely  to  redound  to  the 
temporal  benefit  of  the  people ;  for  the  conditions  of  life  seem 
to  render  it  necessary,  and  the  Danish  government  requires, 
that  they  be  removed  from  their  present  limited  environment 
and  scattered  from  the  mission  stations.  Such  a  scattering  will 
be  of  double  advantage  from  a  physical  and  temporal  stand- 
point. On  the  one  hand  it  will  render  more  easy  the  sucessful 
catch  of  fish  and  furs,  on  which  they  depend  for  a  livelihood. 
On  the  other  hand  they  may  then  be  more  free  to  marry  with 
Greenlanders  of  the  Danish  Church.  It  is  evident  that  the 
present  narrow  village  life,  with  its  isolated  conditions,  villages 
being  quite  cut  off  from  each  other,  promotes  a  degree  of  inter- 
marriage that  is  to  some  extent  a  cause  of  numerical  decrease. 
It  is  due  to  them  to  remove  every  crippling  influence  upon  their 
race  as  such.     In  addition  to  these  considerations,  it  was 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


581 


reported  that  the  Bishop  of  Zealand,  who  is  at  the  same  time 
Bishop  of  Greenland,  and  the  Danish  minister  of  Public  Wor- 
ship had  given  assurances  that  they  will  conscientiously  do  their 
duty  by  former  members  of  the  Moravian  missions  when  the 
transfer  shall  have  been  efifected. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  solve  the  West  Indian  problem  by 
granting  to  these  Provinces  practical  independence  with  certain 
restrictions.  A  fixed  annual  grant,  normally  of  $3,500,  shall  be 
allowed  to  each  Province  for  ten  years,  and  certain  specific 
donations  were  voted.  The  cost  of  maintaining  one  theological 
seminary  on  the  islands,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mission 
Board,  shall  be  a  charge  of  the  general  mission  treasury.  Mis- 
sion Board  will  continue  to  bear  the  expenses,  as  hitherto,  for 
foreign  brethren  now  in  service,  i.  e.,  pension,  etc.  For  foreign 
missionaries  appointed  after  December,  1899,  Mission  Board 
will  undertake  half  of  the  expenses  connected  with  outfit,  pen- 
sion, education  of  children,  etc. ;  the  other  half  must  be  borne 
by  the  Province. 

In  connection  with  the  mission  in  Surinam,  synod  resolved 
upon  a  separation  between  the  management  of  the  business 
interests  in  Paramaribo  and  the  administration  of  the  mission 
itself.  The  former  shall  be  placed  in  charge  of  an  experinced 
business  man. 

The  investments,  business  methods  and  accounts  of  the  Mis- 
sion Board,  with  the  complete  cooperation  of  its  members,  were 
subjected  to  a  thorough  and  searching  examination  by  the 
Finance  Committee  of  synod.  This  committee,  and  in  particu- 
lar John  W.  Fries,  of  the  American  Province,  South,  and  Wil- 
ham  MallaHeu,  of  the  British  Province,  bore  unequivocal  and 
reassuring  testimony  to  the  prudent  management  of  the  mis- 
sion administration.  The  deficits  in  recent  years  were  attributed 
to  the  wide  extension  of  the  work  and  not  to  bureaucratic 
errors.  The  investments  of  the  various  funds  were  found  to 
have  been  effected  with  sound  conservatism.  At  the  same  time 
an  advisory  committee  was  created,  to  share  with  Mission 
Board  the  burden  of  responsibility  in  future,  and  the  publication 
of  a  budget  at  the  commencement  of  each  year  was  required. 

The  negotiations  of  Mission  Board  with  the  heirs  of  Mr. 
Morton  and  with  the  trustees  of  his  estate  in  relation  to  his 
munificent  legacy,  were  reviewed.    Besides  paying  a  tribute  of 


582 


A  HISTORY  OF 


gratitude  to  his  memory,  synod  expressed  its  approval  of  the 
decisions  arrived  at  as  a  result  of  these  negotiations,  viz. : 

1.  That  the  payments  from  the  Morton  Bequest  shall  not  be 
used  for  the  entrance  vipon  new  mission  fields,  but  only  for  the 
extension  and  the  completion  of  existing  fields. 

2.  That  the  Mission  Board  shall  give  the  first  consideration 
to  those  Mission  Districts  in  which  extension  and  completion 
are  indispensable,  and  in  which  such  an  extension  would  have 
taken  place  even  had  the  Morton  Bequest  not  come  to  us. 

3.  That  the  decision,  i.  e.,  suggestion  to  the  trustees,  in  which 
mission  fields  the  money  shall  be  employed,  and  in  what  ways 
it  shall  be  expended  in  detail,  shall  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  [Mis- 
sion Board  alone,  and  not  in  those  of  the  local  authorities  of  the 
Mission  Provinces. 

4.  That  besides  the  single  payments  for  the  founding  of  a  sta- 
tion, and  for  the  outfit  and  journe3fs  of  the  additional  workers, 
and  besides  the  current  annual  salary  of  the  missionary  and  the 
native  teacher  no  other  figures  from  the  Bequest  shall  appear  in 
the  usual  annual  statement  of  the  Mission  Board.  The  payments 
for  pension  and  education,  which  do  not  belong  to  the  account 
for  the  current  year,  shall  be  entered  to  the  respective  funds 
(Pension  Fund,  Education  Fund,  Native  Pension  Funds),  but 
in  such  a  way  that  they  stand  as  a  separate  item  until  the  residu- 
ary estate  is  exhausted.  Nor  shall  the  interest  on  these  sums 
appear  in  the  current  statement  as  long  as  the  installments  of 
the  Bequest  continue  to  be  paid,  but  shall  be  added  to  the  respec- 
tive capitals.  This  will  eventually  constitute  a  reserve  capital, 
whose  interest  shall  not  be  drawn  upon  until  the  support  of  the 
newly  founded  stations  falls  entirely  on  the  General  Mission 
Fund. 

5.  That  on  every  mission  field  which  receives  a  gift  from  the 
Morton  Bequest,  there  shall  be  laid  the  duty,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  gather  a  Reserve  Fund  for  the  station  so  founded,  by  collec- 
tions and  contributions  which  shall  similarly  be  capitalized,  and 
neither  capital  nor  interest  shall  be  drawn  upon  until  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  payments  from  the  Morton  Legacy. 

The  members  of  the  Mission  Board  were  reelected  and 
received  as  their  additional  colleague  John  Bau,  Principal  of 
the  school  for  the  daughters  of  missionaries  at  Kleinwelke. 
Bishop  Buchner  became  President  and  Bishop  Romig  Vice- 
President  of  the  Board. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


The  mission  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  was  a  subject  of  very 
soHcitous  consideration.  Here  the  final  decision  in  matters  of 
administration  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Directing  Board 
of  the  Unity.  In  the  actual  management  of  this  work  the 
Directing  Board  is  to  be  assisted  by  the  Bohemian-Moravian 
Committee,  consisting  of  two  sections,  namely,  the  executive 
section  and  the  circle  of  non-resident  members.  A.  The  execu- 
tive section  is  to  be  constituted  of  eight  persons:  three  mem- 
bers of  the  Directing  Board  of  the  Unity,  residing  in  Berthels- 
dorf,  one  of  whom  must  be  a  member  of  the  Mission  Board; 
three  brethren  living  in  Herrnhut  or  its  vicinity,  and  two  of  the 
pastors  of  congregations  in  Austria  recognized  by  the  govern- 
ment. B.  The  circle  of  non-resident  members  shall  be  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  brethren  in  each  Province  of  the  Unity. 
These  are  to  be  appointed  by  the  governing  board  of  each  Prov- 
ince in  accordance  with  its  own  needs.  Provincial  Elders'  Con- 
ference in  each  case  also  appoints  the  chairman  of  its  branch 
of  the  committee,  who  conducts  the  correspondence  with  the 
executive  session. 

As  a  rule  conferences  of  all  the  brethren  who  are  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Bohemian-Moravian  Mission  shall  take  place  twice 
a  year.  The  congregation-councils  of  the  recognized  congre- 
gations and  of  each  filial  having  a  membership  of  more  than  one 
hundred  souls  shall  each  be  represented  in  these  conferences  by 
one  member,  who  shall  be  chosen  to  serve  for  three  years.  This 
conference  is  given  a  measure  of  autonomy,  and  within  the 
limits  of  the  annual  budget  determined  by  the  executive  section 
of  the  Bohemian-Moravian  Committee  shall  also  control  the 
expenditure  of  money  donated  for  the  work. 

The  executive  section  of  the  Bohemian-Moravian  Committee 
was  constituted  of  Paul  Reichel,  Otto  Padel,  Herman  Schneider, 
Theodore  Bechler,  A.  Christoph,  Eugene  Schmidt  and  The- 
ophilus  Reichel. 

The  election  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Directing 
Board  of  the  Unity  resulted  as  follows :  President,  Bishop  Ben- 
jamin Romig;  Vice-Presidents,  W.  Jacky,  Benjamin  La  Trobe. 
Finally  the  executive  committee  for  the  Leper  Hospital  at  Jeru- 
salem, was  constituted  of  William  Kolbing,  Benjamin  La  Trobe 
and  Paul  Dober,  Kolbing  being  selected  as  the  chairman, 
primarily  charged  with  the  condvict  of  the  business  interests  and 
correspondence  of  the  Committee. 


584 


A  HISTORY  OF 


A  Committee  of  nine  representatives  of  the  various  Provinces 
had  been  appointed  to  consider  all  proposals  bearing  on  points 
of  doctrine  or  discipline.  As  a  result  of  its  deliberations,  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted  with  unanimity : 

Synod  again  declares  its  adherence  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  our 
Church,  as  given  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  General  Synodal  Results  of 
1889.  Synod  holds  that  all  that  is  essential  is  expressed  there,  and  that 
nothing  therein  should  be  changed  e.ther  by  additions  or  by  omission.  At 
the  same  time  Synod  declares,  that  it  accepts  all  Holy  Scripture,  Old  and 
New  Testament,  which  is  the  source  of  these  doctrines,  as  the  Word  of  God_ 
given  by  God  as  the  rule  of  our  faith  and  life,  and  that  we  are  determined  to 
adhere  thereto  with  all  earnestness  and  faithfulness. 

In  view  of  the  fears  entertained  by  some,  lest  there  be  divergence  from  the 
truth  as  received  and  taught  in  our  Church  hitherto.  Synod  urges  the  Provin- 
cial Boards  in  the  appointment  of  Ministers  and  teachers  to  be  the  more 
faithful  and  conscientious  in  carrying  out  the  regulations  of  the  General 
Synodal  Results,  Chapter  II,  Section  11,  paragraphs  2,  3  and  4,  so  as 
effectually  to  meet  the  danger  of  error. 

Synod  earnestly  and  affectionately  urges  the  members  of  our  Church  in  all 
provinces  to  examine  themselves  as  in  the  Lord's  sight,  whether  they  are 
firmly  grounded  in  living  faith  in  the  Divine  truth  of  the  Gospel  and  in  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  our  Church,  and  thus  whether  they  are  true 
disciples  of  the  Lord  and  true  and  living  members  of  our  Brethren's  Church. 
Further  Synod  affectionately  and  earnestly  admonishes  all  who  serve  in  the 
Word  in  the  Home  Churches  and  the  Mission  Fields  to  pray  anew  for  the 
power  and  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  their  preaching  may  both 
awaken  and  edify  when  they  publicly  set  forth  the  Gospel  in  accordance 
with  the  convictions  of  our  Church  as  described  in  the  General  Synodal 
Results,  and  when  they  apply  the  same  to  individual  souls  for  admonition 
and  comfort.  Thus  we  may  confidently  expect  fresh  outpourings  of  Divine 
grace  and  true  conversions  in  our  comjregations. 

As  to  the  request  of  the  Synod  of  the  Northern  American  Province,  to  the 
effect  that  the  staff  of  every  educational  establishment  in  the  Unity  shall  be 
called  upon  publicly  to  declare  their  adherence  to  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Brethren's  Church,  Synod  declares  such  profession  of  faith  to  be  the 
concern  of  the  individual  provinces.  At  the  same  time  all  intrusted  with  ihe 
management  of  our  schools  and  especially  of  our  theological  colleges  are 
admonished  and  requested  conscientiously  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  bring 
up  our  young  people  in  the  spirit,  the  doctrines  and  the  princ.ples  of  our 
Church. 

Adjournment  was  reached  in  the  afternoon  of  June  30.  In 
the  evening  the  consecration  of  Reinhold  Becker,  Paul  Dober 
and  Arved  Senft,  recently  elected  bishops,  took  place  at  the 
hands  of  Bishops  Beck,  Miiller  and  Rondthaler. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


Again,  in  the  providence  of  God,  disruption  of  the  Brethren's 
Unity,  which  at  one  time  appeared  not  impossible,  had  been 
averted  and  a  readjustment  effected,  that  further  usefulness  in 
promoting  His  kingdom  might  be  assured.  To  Him  be  glory 
ever ! 

The  united  membership  of  the  four  Provinces  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church,  according  to  the  latest  published  statistics,  those 
of  January  i,  1899,  was  35,385;  the  Bohemian  Mission  num- 
bered 597 ;  in  Australia  and  in  Russia  there  were  283  members ; 
53  missionaries  were  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Diaspora  in 
various  European  lands ;  390  missionaries  were  laboring  in  the 
foreign  field — a  total  of  36,705  belonging  to  the  Home  Prov- 
inces. In  the  congregations  gathered  from  among  the  heathen 
a  membership  of  96,380  was  reported.  The  Diaspora  societies 
included  about  70,000.  Hence  the  total  number  of  those  in 
fellowship  with  the  Moravian  Church  was  about  203,000. 


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THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  589 

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592 


A  HISTORY  OF 


APPENDIX  B. 


THE  DOCTRINAL  POSITION  OF  THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 

Placing  life  before  the  merely  intellectual  apprehension  of 
and  assent  to  any  fixedly  formulated  creed  (see  pages  i8,  23,  57, 
etc.,  of  the  Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  i8pp),  the  Moravian 
Church  seeks  to  exemplify  a  living  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  con- 
stituted of  regenerated  men  and  v^'^omen,  while  it  oflfers  a  com- 
mon meeting  point  for  Christians  who  apprehend  dogmas  vari- 
ously. Personal  faith  in  the  crucified  Saviour  constitutes  the 
chief  foundation  for  the  fellowship  thus  established. 

"We  aim  at  the  comprehension,  in  a  higher  living  unity,  of  the  diversity  of 
doctrinal  views,  in  so  far  as  this  diversity  turns  on  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  arises  from  the  different  modes  in  which  the  same  scriptural  truth 
is  apprehended  by  different  minds.  This  aim,  however,  we  do  not  seek  to 
attain  by  simply  shutting  out  differences  of  opinion,  or  by  leaving  them  un- 
noticed. On  the  contrary,  we  desire  that  such  differences  should  find  ex- 
pression and  be  recognized  as  legitimate.  Nor  again,  would  we  establish 
unity  by  allowing  all  possible  opinions  to  subsist,  and  letting  love  bear  the 
sway  over  their  heads.  We  seek  rather  a  positive  and  living  unity.  This 
we  find  in  the  faith  in  the  crucified  Christ,  in  whom,  as  in  the  Son  of  God, 
we  have  reconciliation  to  God — that  is,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins.  (Rom. 
V,  10;  Eph.  i,  7.)  This  faith,  and  the  personal  living  fellowship  with  the 
Saviour  which  goes  with  it,  we  place,  with  all  emphasis,  in  the  very  center 
of  the  Christian  life;  indeed,  we  give  these  so  high  a  place  that  for  us  every- 
thing else,  in  comparison  therewith,  is  relegated  to  a  relatively  subordinate 
place." — Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  i8gg,p.  2j. 

"  The  chief  thing,  then,  for  us  all  as  members  of  this  Brethren's  Unity  is, 
and  remains,  to  strive  to  be  One,  and  to  become  more  and  more  One  in  all 
that  is  essential,  so  that  we  may  have  a  sure  ground  for  our  state  of  grace, 
and  may  become  true  members  of  the  One  body  whose  Head  Christ  is." — 
Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  i8gg,  p.  24. 

At  the  same  time  the  doctrinal  position  of  the  Moravian 
Church  is  not  constituted  of  colorless  negations.  Statements 
affirmed  by  its  synods  and  the  language  of  its  authorized  cate- 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


593 


chisms  and  liturgies,  especially  of  its  Easter  Morning  Litany, 
and  the  doctrinal  contents  of  the  hymns  embodied  in  the 
hymnals  published  by  authorization  of  synods,  present  a  clear 
and  readily  apprehended  position  in  reference  to  the  cardinal 
truths  of  salvation.  Whilst  carefully  guarding  the  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment  the  Moravian  Church  jealously  provides  against 
the  dissemination  of  error  and  unfaith  in  its  pulpits  and  schools. 

The  inspired  word  of  revelation,  found  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  constitutes  the  sole  norm  of  faith.  Nothing  is 
posited  as  to  the  mode  of  inspiration,  for  this  pertains  to  the 
mysteries  which  it  has  not  pleased  God  to  reveal. 

"  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are,  and  shall 
remain,  the  only  rule  of  our  faith  and  practice.  We  venerate  them  as  God's 
Word,  which  He  spake  to  mankind  of  old  time  in  the  prophets,  and  at  last 
in  His  Son  and  by  His  apostles,  to  instruct  us  unto  salvation  through  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus.  We  are  convinced  that  all  truths  that  declare  the  will  of  God 
for  our  salvation  are  fully  contained  therein." 

"  We  continue  strictly  to  hold  to  what  has  ever  been  the  principle  among 
the  Brethren,  that  it  is  not  our  business  to  determine  what  Holy  Scripture 
has  left  undetermined,  or  to  contend  about  mysteries  impenetrable  to  our 
human  reason." — Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  iSgg,  p.  26. 

An  explicitly  and  outspokenly  trinitarian  position  is  taken, 
especially  in  the  Litany  for  Easter  Sunday  (pages  10  to  15  of 
the  Hymnal  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America).  The  entire 
structure  of  this  Litany  is  based  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Trinit}-.  Here,  however,  is  one  of  those  mysteries  of  the  faith 
which  the  church  does  not  undertake  to  define  in  human  phrase- 
ology, whilst  firmly  holding  that  Holy  Scripture  reveals  God 
as  triune.  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  However,  the  Easter 
jMorning  Litany  reads,  "I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father,  and  whom  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sent, 
after  he  went  away,  that  he  should  abide  with  us  for  ever."  The 
Catechism  of  the  American  Province,  North,  in  connection  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  cites  the  "Apostles'  Creed."  In  the 
Catechism  the  attributes  of  the  Godhead  are  classified  as  "eter- 
nal, omnipresent,  omniscient,  almighty,  all-wise ;  God  is  holy, 
true  and  righteous ;  God  is  love." 

The  fall  of  Adam  is  afilirmed  and  the  consequent  inheritance 
of  sin  and  death  by  the  whole  human  race ;  but  all  dogmatizing 
in  respect  to  infralapsarianism  or  supralapsarianism,  imputa- 
tion and  the  like,  carefully  avoided.  "Total  depravity"  is 
39 


594 


A  HISTORY  OF 


taught,  but  discussions  of  a  theoretical  character  concerning 
"original  sin"  are  shunned. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Total  Depravity  of  human  nature,  that,  since  the 
fall,  there  is  no  health  in  man,  and  that  he  has  no  strength  to  save  himself. 
(Johniii,  6;  Rom.  iii,  23  ;  vii,  18;  i,  18-32;  iii,  9-18;  Eph.  ii,  8-13.)"  — 
Results  of  the  General  Syjwd  of  iSgg,  p.  2y. 

"  What  do  we  mean  when  we  say  that  human  nature  is  sinful We  mean 
that  there  is  in  it  a  natural  tendency  to  sin,  a  love  of  evil,  an  indisposition  to 
that  which  is  good,  and  a  predominance  of  evil  passions  over  better  con- 
victions."— Catechism,  question  J2. 

Sin  is  shown  to  be  essentially  alienation  from  God,  as  well 
as  the  concrete  act  of  disobedience,  and  its  awful  consequences 
are  set  forth  in  terms  that  admit  of  no  uncertain  meaning. 

"  What  is  sin,  therefore,  in  its  very  essence,  or  true  nature  ?  Sin,  in  its 
true  nature  or  essence,  is  a  falling  away,  or  an  estrangement  from  God,  and 
is  therefore  in  itself  hateful  and  evil,  as  darkness  is  darkness." 

"  What  is  the  punishment  of  sin  called  ?  The  punishment  of  sin  is  called 
death." 

"  What  is  meant  in  Scripture  by  the  word  death  }  By  the  word  death  is 
meant,  not  only  that  the  body  dies  and  is  exposed  to  external  sufferings,  but 
especially  the  misery  of  the  souls  of  the  wicked  in  this  world  and  in  the 
world  to  come.  Temporal  or  natural  death  denotes  the  external  conse- 
quences of  sin,  as  shown  in  this  world,  as  pain,  suffering,  dishonor  and 
natural  death  (or  the  death  of  the  body).  Eternal  death  denotes  the  conse- 
quences of  sin  in  the  life  to  come,  everlasting  condemnation." — Catechism, 
questions  33,  34,  33. 

But  Moravian  teaching  rejoices  especially  in  bearing  clear 
testimony  to  the  love  of  God,  manifested  in  redemption  through 
Jesus  Christ,  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  the  Redeemer,  and  is 
wholly  evangelical  in  holding  up  His  vicarious  atonement  as  the 
sole  objective  means  of  salvation.  Yet  it  insists  on  the  accept- 
ance of  no  forensic  theory  of  redemption,  nor  as  such  on  assent 
to  any  other  merely  scholastic  presentation  of  the  method  and 
manner  of  justification.  It  magnifies  the  merits  of  His  entire 
perfect  life  on  earth,  whilst  it  emphasizes  the  truth  that  by  His 
sufferings  and  death  He  purchased  redemption,  becoming  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Love  of  God  the  Father,  who  '  has  chosen  us  in 
Christ  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,'  and  '  so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  His  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  (John  iii,  16  ;  Eph.  i,  3,  4;  i  John  iv,  9; 
Eph.  ii,  4.) 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


595 


"The  doctrine  of  the  real  Godhead  and  the  real  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ 
— that  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  by  whom  all  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  were  created,  forsook  the  glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was,  and  took  upon  Him  our  flesh  and  blood,  that  He  might  be 
made  like  unto  His  brethren  in  all  things,  yet  without  sin.  (John  i,  1-3 ; 
John  i,  14;  John  xvii,  5  ;  i  John  v,  20;  Cor.  i,  17-19;  Phil,  ii,  6,  7;  Heb,  ii, 
14,  17;  iv,  15.) 

"  The  doctrine  of  our  Reconciliation  unto  God,  and  our  Justification  before 
Him  through  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ — that  Christ  '  was  delivered  for  our 
offences,  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification,'  and  that  by  faith  in  Him 
alone  we  obtain  through  His  blood  forgiveness  of  sin,  peace  with  God,  and 
freedom  from  the  bondage  of  sin.  (Rom.  iii,  24,  25  ;  v,  I ;  i  Cor.  i,  30;  Heb. 
ii,  17;  ix,  12;  I  Pet.  i,  18,  19;  i  John  i,  9;  2  Cor.  v,  18,  19.)" — Results  of 
General  Synod  of  i8gg,  pp.  27,  28. 

"  They  (Moravians)  believe  that,  in  His  great  mercy,  God  from  all  eternity 
formed  a  plan  for  the  salvation  of  man,  because  He  '  will  have  all  men  to  be 
saved ;'  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  who  by  the  overshadowing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  Who  therefore  was  true  God 
true  man  in  one  person,  came  into  the  world  to  accomplish  this  salvation  ;  and 
that  He,  by  His  holy  life,  sufferings  and  death  on  the  cross  redeemed  us 
from  the  power  of  sin  and  Satan,  and  enabled  us  to  become  children  of  God 
and  heirs  of  heaven. 

"  They  believe  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  ascended  into  heaven  and 
is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  ;  but  that  He  is,  at  the  same  time,  invisibly 
with  us  always,  and  through  the  Holy  Ghost  rules  His  spiritual  kingdom,  the 
Church,  as  the  absolute  sovereign  and  king  of  His  people." —  What  do 
Moravians  believe?    Tract,  by  A.  Sckultze,  D.D. 

Justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the  necessity  of  regeneration, 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  human  heart  are  posited  not 
as  tenets  of  scientific  theology  but  as  facts  of  personal  experi- 
ence. 

"  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  operations  of  His  grace,  that 
without  Him  we  are  unable  to  know  the  truth  ;  that  it  is  He  who  leads  us  to 
Christ  by  working  in  us  the  knowledge  of  sin  and  faith  in  Jesus,  and  who 
'beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  children  of  God.'  (John  xvi,  8- 
II  ;  John  xvi.  13,  14;  i  Cor.  xii,  3  ;  Rom.  viii,  16.)" 

"  Living  heart-faith  is  recessary,  for  one  becomes  a  true  Christian  only 
through  faith;  but  it  is  also  necessary  that  the  soul  be  brought  to  a  deep  and 
thorough  conviction  of  its  sin  and  misery,  of  its  worthiness  of  damnation, 
and  of  its  need  of  redemption.  For  the  more  earnest  is  the  longing  for 
peace  the  more  confidently,  on  the  evidence  of  God's  faithful  word,  can  the 
redemption  wrought  out  by  Christ  be  laid  hold  of  by  faith." 

"  Through  faith  the  sinner  receives  from  God,  through  grace,  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins,  purification  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  peace  with  God ; 


596 


A  HISTORY  OF 


and  he  receives  the  power  (the  right)  to  become  a  child  of  God.  (Luke  vii, 
48-50;  Rom.  V,  I  ;  John  i,  12.)" 

"  As  to  the  manner  in  which  God,  in  His  merciful  compassion,  effects  this 
great  change  in  the  human  heart,  both  Holy  Writ  and  the  experience  of  be- 
lievers show  that  there  is  a  great  diversity  in  God's  ways  of  leading  souls  to 
their  eternal  salvation.  Some,  like  Paul,  are  able  to  give  the  hour  of  the  de- 
cisive turning  in  their  inner  life,  when,  called  and  awakened  by  the  voice  of 
God,  they  found  justification  and  peace  in  believing.  With  others,  again  the 
experience  of  their  awakening  and  pardon  cannot  be  defined  as  belonging  to 
any  one  particular  moment." — Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  i8gg,  pp. 
28  and  zg. 

The  Moravian  Church  does  not  teach  perfectionism,  but  it 
rejoices  in  the  reality  of  sanctifying  grace.  It  holds  that  to 
those  who  have  received  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  a  convic- 
tion of  their  sonship  with  God,  is  given  divine  power  for  the 
resistance  of  evil  and  the  overcoming  of  sin.  It  is  their  duty 
and  privilege  to  follow  after  holiness,  and  to  prove  their  faith 
by  works  of  love,  the  while  they  reach  towards  the  goal  in  imi- 
tation of  their  perfect  example,  Christ  Jesus. 

"The  doctrine  of  Good  Works  as  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  inasmuch  as  faith 
manifests  itself  as  a  living  and  active  principle  by  a  willing  obedience  to  the 
commandments  of  God,  prompted  by  love  and  gratitude  to  Him  who  died 
for  us.  (John  xiv,  15  ;  Rom.  vi,  1 1-14;  i  Cor.  vi,  20;  Gal.  v,  6;  Gal.  v,  22- 
24;  I  John  V,  3-5  ;  Eph.  ii,  8-10;  James  ii,  17.)" — Results  of  the  General 
Synod  of  i8gg,  p.  28. 

"  The  same  grace  which  effects  in  the  soul  the  knowledge  of  sin,  and 
justifies  the  sinner  before  God  and  makes  him  a  child  of  God,  works  in  him 
further  also  true  sanctification.  This  sanctification,  however,  consists  not 
merely  in  the  laying  aside  of  certain  sinful  habits  and  vices,  but  far  more  in 
the  renewal  of  the  inmost  mind,  and  the  decision  of  the  whole  heart  and 
will  to  be  the  Lord's.  We  love  Him  who  first  loved  us,  with  the  whole  heart, 
the  whole  soul,  and  the  whole  mind,  and  we  give  proof  of  our  love  by  doing 
the  will  of  God  with  the  whole  heart,  and  obeying  his  commandments." 

"  The  concurrent  mark  of  all  true  children  of  God  is  this,  that  they  have 
received  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  (Rom.  viii,  9.)  It  is  this  spirit  of  Christ  who 
first  certifies  them  by  his  witness  that  they  have  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  that 
they  are  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  eternal  life.  He  works  in  them, 
instead  of  the  spirit  of  a  slave  and  of  fear  of  the  wrath  of  God,  the  spirit  of 
sonship  in  which  they  cry,  'Abba,  Father  !'  He  impels  them  to  follow  after 
that  sanctification,  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.  He  sheds 
abroad  in  their  hearts  the  love  of  God,  by  which  they  receive  power  no  longer 
to  let  sin  reign  in  their  mortal  body  that  they  should  obey  it  in  its  lusts.  He 
reproves  them,  makes  them  sorry  with  a  godly  sorrow  for  the  sin  that  is  still 
present  with  them,  and  at  the  same  time  produces  in  them  heartfelt  confidence 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


597 


in  their  Lord,  so  that  they  ever  and  again  confess  their  sins  to  Him  who  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  them  their  sins,  and  to  cleanse  them  from  all  their 
unrighteousness.  In  view  of  Xhtgoal  of  sanctification  in  Christ  the  child  of 
grace  in  deep  humility,  and  also  with  holy  and  earnest  decision,  confesses 
with  Paul,  'not  that  I  have  already  obtained,  or  am  already  made  perfect; 
but  I  press  on,  if  so  be  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which  I  was  appre- 
hended by  Christ  Jesus.'    (Phil,  iii,  12.) 

"But  all  the  power  thus  to  press  forward  towards  the  goal  is  given  us  by 
the  gracious  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if  we  do  not  cease  to  look  in  faith 
unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Perfector  of  our  faith — that  is,  do  not  cease  to 
look  in  faith  at  the  whole  merit  of  His  life,  sufferings,  death  and  resurrection 
— and  if  we  abide  in  that  constant  confidential  intercourse  with  Him  which 
a  pardoned  sinner  has  with  his  Saviour.  That  intercourse  is  none  other  than 
the  abiding  of  the  branch  in  the  vine,  of  which  Christ  says  :  'As  the  branch 
cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine  ;  so  neither  can  ye,  except 
ye  abide  in  me ;  for,  apart  from  me,  ye  can  do  nothing.'    (John  xv,  4,  5.) 

"  Thus  the  new  life  of  the  regenerate  child  of  God  is  safely  carried  forwards 
towards  its  maturity,  according  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  Christ, 
toward  its  glorification  in  the  image  of  Christ  and  its  perfection  in  eternity." 
— Results  of  General  Synod  of  i8gg,  pp.  jo,  ji. 

Stress  is  laid  upon  the  need  of  employing  prayer  and  other 
private  and  public  means  of  grace,  for  the  culture  of  spiritual 
life.  The  Moravian  conception  of  the  church  avoids  narrow 
denominationalism  on  the  one  hand  and  a  perverted  ecclesi- 
asticism  on  the  other  hand.  Community  with  Christ  is  held  to 
be  of  more  importance  than  details  of  ritual,  and  polity,  though 
all  things  should  be  done  decently  and  in  order,  when  worship 
is  rendered  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Whilst  a  complete  liturgical 
litaal  is  enjoyed,  including  forms  for  use  on  the  Lord's  Day, 
and  for  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  and  the  celebra- 
tion of  various  rites,  like  confirmation,  marriage  and  burial,  and 
whilst  the  Christian  Year  is  observed,  free  prayer  is  allowed, 
and  ministers  are  not  restricted  in  their  choice  of  themes  for 
the  pulpit  to  the  lessons  assigned  in  conformity  with  the  church 
seasons.  The  three  orders  of  the  ministry  are  perpetuated,  but 
with  no  hierarchical  conception  of  the  functions  of  the  episco- 
pate. The  congregations  themselves,  through  their  elders  par- 
ticpate  in  the  administration  of  discipline.  Fellowship  with 
believers  of  every  name  is  encouraged,  and  members  of  evan- 
geHcal  churches  are  received  at  their  desire  into  communicant 
membership  by  certificate. 


598 


A  HISTORY  OF 


"  What  is  our  part  and  duty  in  the  work  of  sanctification  ?  We  should 
watch  over  ourselves,  and  maintain  our  communion  with  God  our  Saviour 
by  means  of  prayer." 

"  What  do  the  Holy  Scriptures  teach  us  with  regard  to  prayer  ?  It  is  our 
privilege  and  our  duty  to  bring  all  our  feelings,  wishes  and  desires  in  prayer 
before  God,  in  all  places  and  at  all  times." — Catechism,  questions  jij,  114. 

"  What  was  founded  through  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  ?  Through 
the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  the  first  Christian  congregation  was  founded' 
and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Church,  which  has  since  been 
spread  over  the  whole  world." 

"  Where  is  the  true  Church  of  Christ  to  be  found  ?  To  the  true  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  belong  all  those  who  have  been  saved  by  faith  in  Him,  and  who, 
from  love  to  Him,  keep  His  commandments.  But  this  true  Church  of  Christ 
is  not  to  be  found  anywhere  on  earth  in  a  pure  and  unmixed  state. 

[The  visible  Church  comprehends  all  those  who  have  outwardly  accepted 
the  Gospel  of  Christ.  These  are  called  Christians.  (Acts  xi,  26.)  The 
true  or  invisible  Church  is  contained  in  the  visible  one,  and  is  also  called  the 
holy  catholic  (universal)  Church.    Nominal  Christians  and  real  Christians.]" 

"  What  has  Christ  instituted  for  the  establishment  and  the  spread  of  His 
Church  on  earth  }  Christ  instituted  the  sacred  ministry  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and  spreading  the  same,  by  means 
of  living  witnesses." — Catechism,  questions      §6,  ^8. 

"  The  Christian  Church  has  not  considered  it  sufficient  to  dwell  upon  our 
Lord's  redeeming  work  in  general  only  on  Sundays,  but  has  also  recom- 
mended the  commemoration  of  the  essential  parts  of  that  redemption  by 
special  festivals.  P'rom  these  has  arisen  the  course  of  festive  seasons,  which 
embrace  in  historical  sequence  the  whole  counsel  of  God  for  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race,  and  occupy  the  first  half  of  our  Church  year." — Results  of 
General  Synod  of  i8gg,  p.  41. 

"  Regulations  belonging  to  our  ritual  and  liturgy  must  never  be  allowed  to 
become  a  dead  letter,  or  to  degenerate  into  dry,  cold  form.  It  is  rather  a 
principle  of  our  Church  to  be  highly  esteemed,  that  we  have  and  maintain 
liberty  to  introduce  changes  and  improvements  in  our  ritual  as  circumstances 
may  require. 

"  Every  minister  presiding  at  a  service  must  be  at  liberty  in  unessential 
points  of  ritual  'o  act  as  the  spirit  moves  him." — Results  of  the  General 
Synod  of  i8gg,  p.  j8. 

"  The  ministry  in  the  Protestant  Church  of  the  Brethren,  by  means  of 
which  it  can  enjoy  an  independent  an  undisputed  activity  in  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  the  same  manner  as  every  other  organized  Church,  rests  on  the  con- 
secration of  Bishops,  Presbyters,  and  Deacons." 

"  The  diaconate  is  the  first  degree  of  orders  in  the  Church.  It  entitles  to 
the  exercise  of  the  ministry  of  the  Word  and  of  the  sacraments.  After  the 
example  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  this  consecration  be  also  imparted  to  those 
brethren  to  whom  the  control  of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  Church  is  com- 
mitted." 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


599 


"  The  degree  of  presbyter  is  primarily  to  be  conferred  upon  such  deacons 
as  are  appointed  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  and  to  the  charge  of  a  congre- 
gation in  one  of  the  three  Provinces  of  the  Unity,  or  are  entrusted  with  the 
direction  of  any  particular  branch  of  Church  work." 

"The  office  of  a  bishop  imparts  in  and  by  itself  no  manner  of  claim  to  the 
control  of  the  whole  Church,  or  of  any  part  of  it  ;  the  administration  of  par- 
ticular dioceses  does  therefore  not  belong  to  the  bishops.  A  bishop,  like 
every  other  minister  of  the  Unity,  must  receive  a  special  commission  from 
the  Synod,  or  from  the  Directing  Board  of  a  Province,  for  every  office  which 
he  may  have  to  fill. 

"A  bishop  alone  is  authorized  to  perform  ordinations  to  the  various  grades 
of  the  Ministry  of  the  Church." — Results  of  the  General  Synod  of  i8gg,  pp. 
87,  88,  89,  90. 

From  the  first  the  Moravian  Church  has  refused  to  formulate 
definitions  in  connection  with  the  sacraments,  holding  that  these 
are  eminently  to  be  classed  among  the  "mysteries"  of  revela- 
tion, and  observing  with  regret  how  these  very  means  of  grace, 
intended  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  promote  union  among  His 
followers,  have  become  causes  of  contention  and  division  when 
men  have  attempted  to  bind  the  conscience  concerning  them. 
This,  however,  the  Moravian  Church  does  affirm:  that  "baptism 
is  a  sacred  rite,  by  v^hich  under  the  emblem  of  water,  we  receive 
a  pledge  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  admission  into  the  cove- 
nant of  God,  through  the  blood  of  Christ ;  and  that  children  also 
may  be  baptized  as  a  sign  and  pledge  to  them  of  the  promise  of 
Christ  that  their's  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  furthermore  that 
in  the  Lord's  Supper  the  believer  receives  a  divine  seal  of  the 
covenant  which  was  ratified  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  he 
is  thereby  drawn  into  the  most  intimate  communion  with  Jesus 
Christ." 

"  What  are  Sacraments  ?  Sacraments  are  sacred  rites,  which  Jesus  Christ 
has  ordained  in  His  Church,  in  order  to  communicate  and  to  confirm  to  us 
the  gifts  and  promises  of  the  Gospel." 

"  How  many  Sacraments  has  the  Christian  Church }  The  Christian 
Church  has  two  Sacraments :  Holy  Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  or  the 
Holy  Communion." 

"  What  is  Baptism Baptism,  as  an  external  rite,  is  a  sign  of  dedication 
to  God,  and  of  reception  into  the  Christian  Church." 

"  What  is  the  higher  and  spiritual  signification  of  Baptism  ?  The  external 
emblem  signifies  a  dying  of  the  old  man,  and  at  the  same  time  an  admission 
into  the  covenant  with  God." 

"  What  do  we,  therefore,  receive  by  Baptism  By  Baptism  we  receive, 
under  the  condition  of  faith,  the  promise  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 


6oo 


A  HISTORY  OF 


for  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  at  the  same  time  the  communication  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  for  sanctification." 

"What,  then,  is  the  Lord's  Supper?  It  is  a  sacrament  instituted  by  Jesus 
Christ  in  memory  of  His  death." 

"What  is  it  besides?  It  is  also  a  communion,  or  covenant-rite,  and 
as  such  a  Divine  seal  of  the  Testament  (or  covenant)  which  was  ratified  by 
the  blood  of  Christ  for  our  salvation  and  reconciliation  with  God.  '  Take, 
eat :  this  is  My  body.  This  is  My  blood  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is 
shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins.'  Matt,  xxvi,  26,  28.  The  Holy 
Communion  is,  therefore,  a  mysterious  enjoyment  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ ;  that  is,  when  the  Lord's  Supper  is  enjoyed  according  to  the  mitid  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  partaking  of  the  bread  and  wine  is  connected  with  the  en- 
joyment of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus,  in  a  manner  incomprehensible  to 
us,  and  therefore  inexpressible." 

"  The  fourfold  fruit  of  the  Communion,  therefore,  is  :  i .  The  assurance 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins;  2.  The  strengthening  of  faith  ;  3.  The  increase 
of  mutual  love ;  4.  The  confirmation  of  the  hope  of  eternal  life,  and  of  a 
glorious  resurrection." 

"  What  is  requisite  in  order  that  we  may  really  become  partakers  of  all 
these  blessings  ?  We  can  become  partakers  of  the  fruits  and  promises  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  only  by  approaching  the  table  of  the  Lord  in  a  worthy  manner." 

"  What  is  necessary  if  we  would  approach  the  Lord's  table  in  a  worthy 
manner  ?  Serious  preparation  and  self-examination  are  requisite  to  a  worthy 
participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper." — Catechism,  questions  6o-6j.  70,  7/, 
7J-77- 

Qtiestions  of  eschatology  have  not  been  entered  upon  by 
Moravian  synods,  for  the  purpose  of  defining  dogma.  Here 
as  in  connection  with  predestination  and  the  sacraments,  it  is 
preferred  that  individual  members  grow  in  knowledge  by  per- 
sonal search  of  the  Scriptures  and  by  personally  seeking  to 
apprehend  so  much  as  they  can  of  the  mysteries  of  revelation. 
Premillenarians  and  postmillenarians  may  both  be  found  in  the 
membership  of  the  church.  However,  the  Moravian  Church 
plainly  teaches  a  conscious  existence  of  every  individual  soul 
after  death,  and  afifirms  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  It  con- 
fesses faith  in  the  visible  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
power  and  great  glory,  in  order  to  judge  the  living  and  the 
dead  and  establish  his  kingdom  of  glory,  and  that  those  who 
are  His  will  enjoy  the  consummation  of  perfect  life  for  ever, 
but  those  whom  he  condemns  will  suffer  eternal  punishment. 

"  I  have  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better ;  I 
shall  never  taste  death  ;  yea,  I  shall  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ; 
for  the  body  which  I  shall  put  off,  this  grain  of  corruptability,  shall  put  on 
incorruption ;  my  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 


60 1 


"And  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus, 
that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant, shall  also  quicken  these  our  mortal  bodies,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  hath  dwelt  in  them. 

"  The  Lord  will  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the 
archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God,  to  judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead. 

"  This  is  my  Lord,  v^'ho  redeemed  me,  a  lost  and  undone  human  creature, 
purchased  and  gained  me  from  sin,  from  death,  and  from  the  power  of  the 
devil ; 

"  Not  with  gold  or  silver,  but  with  His  holy  precious  blood,  and  with  His  in- 
nocent suffering  and  dying ; 

"  To  the  end  that  I  should  be  His  own,  and  in  His  kingdom  live  under  Him 
and  serve  him,  in  eternal  righteousness,  innocence,  and  happiness ; 

Even  as  he,  being  risen  from  the  dead,  liveth  and  reigneth,  world  without 
end." — Easter  Morning  Litaiiy. 

"  When  will  the  work  of  grace  be  completed At  the  glorious  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

"  When  will  He  come  ?  The  day  and  the  hour  no  man  knows,  for  He  will 
come  unexpectedly." 

"  What  will  then  take  place  ?  Then  all  the  dead  will  be  raised  up  by 
Jesus  Christ ;  but  the  dead  in  Christ  (believers)  will  rise  first." 

"  What  will  happen  to  those  believers  who  are  still  alive  at  the  coming  of 
Christ  ?  Those  believers  who  are  still  alive  at  the  coming  of  Christ  will  be 
changed ;  and  their  bodies  will  be  made  like  unto  the  glorified  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  risen  bodies  of  the  saints." 

"  What  will  take  place  after  the  general  resurrection  .''  After  the  general 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  final  judgment  will  take  place." 

"  W^ho  will  be  the  Judge Jesus  Christ,  the  Judge  of  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  will  recompense  to  every  man  according  to  his  works." 

"  What  will  be  the  condition  of  man  after  death  ?  After  the  resurrection 
and  final  judgment,  man  will  partake  either  of  eyerlasting  happiness  or  of 
everlasting  misery." 

"Who  will  be  partakers  of  everlasting  life  ?  The  righteous,  that  is,  all 
who  have  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  will  attain  to  everlasting  happiness,  being 
released  from  sin,  from  death  and  from  all  pain,  admitted  to  the  most  inti- 
mate communion  with  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  and  made  partakers  of  His 
glory." 

"  What  will  become  of  the  wicked  ?  The  wicked,  that  is,  all  who  hold  the 
truth  in  unrighteousness,  and  are  not  obedient  to  the  Gospel,  shall  go  into 
everlasting  punishment,  and  shall  be  separated  from  God  and  all  the  saints." 

"  What  will  then  happen  to  the  universe  ?  The  whole  visible  creation 
(heaven  and  earth)  will  then  undergo  an  entire  change.     This  is  called  the 

END  OF  THE  WORLD  ! 

"And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  were  passed  away."  (Rev.  21  :  i.)  "We,  according  to  his  promise, 
look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  (2 
Peter  3:  13.) — Catechism,  questions  i2j-ijo. 


INDEX. 


The  references  are  to  page  numbers. 


Abbey  Hey,  557. 
Aberford,  134. 
Abini,  273. 

Abraham,  the  Mohican,  262. 
Abraham  of  New  Fairfield,  365. 
Abraham,  negro  of  St.  Thomas,  53. 
Abyssinia,  178,  179. 
Achtnich,  Martin,  510,  51 1. 
Acolytes,  338. 

Act  of  N.  Y.   Assembly   against  the 

Moravians,  135,  142,  143. 
Adams,  Samuel,  252. 
Administrators  of  the  Unity's  Estates  in 

America,  241,  291,  357,  361,  389,  400, 

404,  524- 
Adrai  (Noah),  461. 
Advent,  563. 

"Advisory  Board,"  The,  407,  521. 
Advocatus  Fratrum  in  Anglia,  286,  380, 
444,  518- 

Africa  (see  Cape  Colony,  Egypt,  Guinea 
Coast). 

Africa,  East  Equatorial,  570-575. 

Africo,  64,  276. 

Agricola,  206. 

Alaska,  530,  540-547,  566. 

Albany,  142. 

Alberta  Territory,  560-561. 
Albertini,  John  Baptist,  341,  343-347, 
357- 

Albion,  111.,  403. 
Albina,  568. 

Alexander  I  of  Russia,  311,  382,  432. 

Algeria,  65,  95. 

Allanson,  William,  443. 

Allen,  William,  82. 

Allegheny  River,  The,  244. 

Allemaengel,  140. 

Almond,  Thomas,  288. 

Alphen,  Van,  62. 

Altona,  285. 

America  (see  Pennsylvania  and  North 
Carolina). 

American  congregations  in  1790,  The, 
257  note. 

Amsterdam,  62,  63,  94,  95,  97,  113,  114, 

122,  149,  284,  285. 
Amsterdam,  Classis  of,  151. 
Amtrup,  Niels,  303,  339,  344. 


Anders,  John  Daniel,  357,  359,  360,  380, 

381. 
Anderson,  200. 

Andrew,  negro  of  St.  Thomas,  56. 
Anna,  negress  of  St.  Thomas,  53. 
Annaszorg,  420. 

Antes,  Henry,  104,  106,  145,  170,  176. 

Antes,  John,  179. 

Anthony,  the  Mohican,  244. 

Anthony,  the  negro,  50,  51. 

Antigua,  184,  269,  329,  331,  373,  415, 

418,  494. 
Anton,  Paul,  3,  4,  18,  20,  32,  171. 
Aporo,  332. 
Arabi,  273,  421. 
Arawacks,  The,  185-188. 
Arbalik,  61. 
Archangel,  65. 

Archives,  The  Unity's,  96,  207,  305,  340, 
380. 

Argyle,  Lord,  136,  215. 
Arkansas  Territory,  362,  364. 
Arran,  288. 
Artrea,  166. 
Arva,  288. 
Aschwaubenon,  560. 
Ashton,  165. 

"Associate  congregations,"  518. 
Associated  Brethren  of  Schippack,  The, 
104. 

Astor,  Wm.  B.,  403. 

Astrakhan,  210-212,  230. 

Atlantic  City,  523. 

Aufseher  Collegium,  The,  144,  218. 

Augsburg,  Confession  of,  72,  113,  124, 

196,  198,  436. 
August  Thirteenth,  1727,  38. 
Augustus,  The  Strong,  23. 
Augustus,  Indian,  365. 
Aukas,  The  (Djukas),  462,  568. 
Aulibissi  Creek,  The,  331. 
Australia,  387,  388. 

Australia,  Missions  in,  429-432,  466-468, 

505,  539,  564- 
Australia,  Presbyterian  Assembly  of,  467, 

539- 

"Australian  Associations,"  431. 
Awakening  amongst  the  Children,The,  40. 
Ayr,  215,  249. 


6o4 


INDEX. 


Bachman,  Henry  C,  448. 

Bachman,  Henry  T.,  488,  526,  563. 

Bachman,  Mrs.  H.  T.,  547. 

Bachman,  Traugott,  574. 

Badham,  Thomas  Leopold,  444,  445, 

454,  455.  478,  480,  517. 
Badham,  Walter  L.  G.,  494,  533. 
Bagdad,  178. 

Bahnson,  George  F.,  401,  446. 

Baildon,  315. 

Bailyhili,  270. 

Baird,  Sir  David,  334. 

Bakewell,  444. 

Baldan,  Joseph,  470. 

Ballein,  John,  380,  436,  437,  498. 

Ballinderry,  161,  162,  166,  214,  288. 

Ballykennedy,  167. 

Ballymaguigan,  214. 

Ballymena,  134,  162,  288. 

Baltic  Provinces,  The,  46,  198  (see 

Livonia). 
Baltonsborough,  396,  441. 
Bambey,  New,  273,  333,  421,  422. 
"  Bands  "  (Classes),  37,  42. 
Baptism,  Modes  of,  471. 
Baptism  of  the  Spirit,  38. 
Barbados,  270,  271,  369,  373,  419,  454. 
Barbuda,  257. 

Barby,  124,  126,  148,  155,  158,201,205, 

218,  219,  235,  303-305. 
Barby,  The  college  at,  155. 
Barham,  184. 
Barsoe,  411. 
Barsoe,  Mads,  421. 
Barstow,  Charles,  403. 
Barzilei,  331. 
Basel,  95,  158,  198. 
Basseterre,  270. 
Batavia,  Surinam,  421. 
Batheaston,  396. 
Bau,  John,  582. 

Bauer,  Herman  Teodore,  514,  553. 
Bauer,  William,  569. 
Bauer,  William  Theodore,  498,  512,  552, 
553- 

Baumgarten,  Dr.,  197. 

Baur,  Richard,  465,  501. 

Bauss,  John  Conrad,  366. 

Baviaanskloof,  63,  276- 281. 

Bay  Settlement,  407. 

Baziya,  465,  537. 

Beaufort,  Jamaica,  415. 

Beaver  River,  The,  245,  246. 

Bechler,  Ferdinand,  465,  498. 

Bechler,  John  Christian,  317,  357,  510. 

Bechler,  Theodore,  583. 

Bechtel,  John,  104,  106,  139. 

Beck,  Conrad,  512,  552,  584. 

Beck,  Henry  F.,  81. 

Beck,  Jacob,  324,  367. 

Beck,  John,  60,  61,  62,  159,  265,  367. 

Beck,  John  Christian,  368. 


Becker,  Bernard,  514,  517,  553. 

Becker,  Reinhold,  584. 

Bedford,  91,  131,  163,  l68,  288,  315, 

350,  351.  556- 
Beekhuizen,  420,  421. 
Beersheba,  Ohio,  318,  361. 
Beersheba,  Surinam,  460. 
Beitroge  zur  Erbauung  atts  der  Bri'ider- 

gemeine,  31 1. 
Bellamy,  Joseph,  140. 
Belfast,  479,  518,  556. 
Belper,  165. 
Bempen,  Van  den,  63. 
Benade,  Andrew,  357,  401. 
Benade  of  Milkel,  155. 
Benade,  Traugott,  301. 
Benesse,  179. 
Bengel,  5,  125. 
Benham,  Daniel,  445. 
Benner,  Dr.,  125. 
Bennet,  270. 
Bensel,  George,  104. 
Bentel,  Christian,  407,  448. 
Benzien,  Christian  Lewis,  317. 
Berbice,  186,  272. 
Berea,  Minn.,  483,  560. 
Berg-en-dal,  422,  498. 
Berleburg,  46. 
Berleburg  Bible,  The,  116. 
Berlin,  9,  70,  75,  76,  93,  94,  117,  310, 

477- 

Berlin  Missionary  Society,  The,  575- 
Bir liner  Reden,  The,  94,  189. 
Berne,  95. 

Bernhard,  Otto,  439. 

Berthelsdorf,  22,  23,  24,  25,  78,  155,  203, 
232,  282. 

Berthold,  Gustavus,  421. 

Bertolet,  John,  104. 

Bertram,  Max,  552. 

Berwig,  George,  62. 

Betergesellschaft,  Engere,  337. 

Beterverwachting,  534,  535. 

Bethabara,  Jamaica,  415,  456. 

Bethabara,  N.C.,  171,  175,  264,  295. 

Bethania,  Moskilo,  459,  496,  530. 

Bethania,  N.C.,  175. 

Bethania,  St.  John,  58,  182,  268. 

Bethany,  Jamaica,  329,  415. 

Bethany,  Minn.,  449. 

Bethel,  Alaska,  544-547,  566. 

Bethel,  Australia,  388. 

Bethel,  North  Dakota,  560. 

Bethel,  St.  Kitts,  373. 

Bethesda,  Kaffraria,  537. 

Bethesda,  Minn.,  560. 

Bethesda,  St.  Kitts,  331,  373,  418. 

Bethlehem,  Jamaica,  370. 
iBethlehem,  Pa.,  82,  83,  106,  110,  138- 
ij    143,  168-177,  241.  242,  252-256,  258, 
\    317.  390,  399-403.  405-409.  450-452, 
L  5«9.  525- 


INDEX. 


605 


Bethlehem,  Laurel  St.,  525. 
Bethlehem,  Home  Missionary  Society  of, 
401,  406. 

"Bethlehem  Mission,"  The,  449,  482. 
Bethlehem  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies, 

291,  526. 
Betka,  Wenceslaus,  555. 
"Bettag,"  The,  43. 
Beuning,  Catharine,  95. 
Beuning,  Matthias,  121,  122,  147,  151. 
Beyer  family.  The,  11. 
Beyer,  Andrew,  34,  45,  46. 
Beyer,  Michael  Ernest,  453. 
Bezold,  41. 
Biefer,  198. 

Bigler,  David,  403,  405,  406,  448. 

Bigler,  WiHiam  H.,  451,  485. 

Bindschedler,  Samuel,  492. 

Bininger,  Jacob,  359. 

Birkby,  James,  270. 

Birtill,  John,  394. 

Bischoff,  David,  145. 

Bischbfliche  Ordination,  Kolbing's,  9. 

Bishop,  Gilbert,  529. 

Bishops  of  the    Resuscitated  Moravian 

Church,  586-591. 
Bittman,  John,  8. 
Blair,  Peter,  459,  496. 
Blairstown,  Iowa,  486,  523. 
Blandford,  Henry  E.,  518,  556,"558. 
Blech,  Charles  A.,  359. 
Blickensderfer,  Sr.,  Jacob,  318,  405,  447. 
Blickensderfer,  Jr.,  Jacob,  405. 
Blickensderfer,  Jesse,  485,  526. 
Bluefields,  427-429,  458-460,  496,  530. 
Bluff,  563. 

Board  of  Administrators,  The,  153,  157. 

Board  of  Directors,  157. 

Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  The, 

135- 

Bode,  De,  465. 

Bodenbach-Dux,  555. 

Bohler,  Peter,  80-83,  84,85,  93, 109, 110, 
129,  133,  140,  161,  162,  163,  168,  171, 
172,  176,  207,  213,  218,  249. 

Boehm,  Pastor,  107. 

Bcihnisch,  Frederick,  37,  52,  60,  61,264. 
Bohnisch,  George,  78,  80. 
Boemper,  Abraham,  145,  186. 
Bonhof,  475. 

Boers,  The,  278-281,  425. 

Boga,  Lake,  431. 

Bogue,  184. 

Bohemia,  6,  10,  11,  12. 

Bohem.ian  Diaspora,  The,  439,  473. 

Bohemian-Moravian  Mission,  The,  473, 

474,  554-556,  583,  585- 
Bohn,  Von,  75. 
Bolivar,  Ohio,  246. 
Bonatz,  Adolphus,  334,  378,  423. 
Bonike,  55. 


Bony,  466. 

Bordeaux,  198,  389,  475. 

Borhek,  Ashton  C,  526,  562. 

Borhek  Memorial  Chapel,  The  Helen 

Stadiger,  562. 
Bonn,  56. 
Bosjesfeld,  424. 
Boston,  Mass.,  140,  407. 
Bourquin,  Theodore,  491,  493,  515,  528. 
Bowana,  377,  504. 
Bowen,  John,  331. 
Bowers,  132. 
Bowes,  135. 
Boyle,  Captain,  330. 
Bradbury's  Meeting  House,  88, 
Braht,  Adam  William,  340. 
Bramberg,  462. 
Brampton,  130,  161. 
Brand,  279. 
Brandmiiller,  139. 
Brandt,  Abraham  Louis,  211,  212. 
Brasen,  224. 

Brauer,  Councillor,  125,  206. 
Bray,  90. 

Breithaupt,  John  Justus,  4. 
Breslau,  549. 

Breutel,  John  Christian,  347,  380,  476. 

Breutel  (Strassburg),  475. 

Brey,  Jacob,  21 1. 

Briant,  Jonathan  de,  235,  301. 

Brickenstein,  Herman  A.,  451,  452,  487. 

Brickenstein,  John  C,  451. 

Bridgeport,  Conn.,  404. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  329,  373,  419. 

Brief  Gra»imar  and  Vocabulary  of  the 

Eskimo  Lattguage  of  North-  Western 

Alaska,  Schultze,  547. 
Brieg,  389. 

Bristol,  89,  129,  164,  165,  354,  445. 
Britain  (See  England,  Ireland,  Scotland). 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  312, 

327.  366,  367,  375,  493,  515,  538. 
Broadbay,  140,  241,  242. 
Broadoaks,  132,  133,  135. 
Brockweir,  355. 
Brodbeck,  Jacob,  527,  528. 
Brodberg,  Louis,  211. 
Brodersen,  Jasper,  266,  326. 
Brosing,  Andrew,  242. 
Brooklyn,  403,  452. 
Brookshaw,  Benjamin,  269,  270. 
"  Brother  Joseph,"  140. 
Brotherly  Agreement,  The,  164,  254,  447. 
Brown  (Holbeck),  131,  132,  161. 
Brown,  Edwin,  564. 
Brown,  Nathanael,  272,  331. 
Brown,  Peter,  269,  270. 
Brown  Bank,  458. 
Brownfield,  John,  81,  145. 
Bruce,  139. 

Brucker,  John,  58,  182. 


6o6 


INDEX. 


Briider  Blatt,  Das,  391,  404,  451. 

Brilder  Bote,  Der,  438. 

Bruder  Botschafter,  Der,  452. 

Bruderfeld,  Alberta,  561. 

Briidergarten,  180. 

Briiderheim,  Alberta,  561. 

Briiderthal,  Brazil,  513. 

Briihl,  Von,  72,  93. 

Brugglers,  The,  116. 

Brunswick,  Germany,  198. 

Brunswick,  N.  J.,  140. 

Bruyn,  de,  62,  94. 

Bruyningk,  Henry  von,  237. 

Bryselius,  134,  139. 

Buchner,  Charles,  558,  563,  582. 

Buchner,  John  Henry,  416,  417,  454,  514. 

Buckley,  John,  419. 

Buddaeus,  5,  45,  84. 

Buddhoe,  414. 

Buddhists,  The,  468-470. 

Budingen,  Counts  of,  120,  206. 

Budingen,   Count    Gustavus  Frederick 

von,  125,  206. 
Budingen,   Count  Lewis  Casimir  von, 

125,  206. 
Biilow,  Charles  von,  388. 
BUninger,  Abraham,  81,  359. 
Buergers,  464,  537. 
Biittner,  139,  142,  244. 
Bund  Ein  engerer,  336,  343. 
Bunkershill,  Barbados,  329. 
Burau,  117. 

Burghardt,  John  Christian,  322, 
Burgsdorf,  von,  297. 
Burials,  The,  432. 

Burkhardt,  Arthur  Guido,  512,  513,  553, 
565. 

Burkhardt,  Christian  Edward,  438. 

Burnside,  James,  81. 

Burton,  Edward,  288. 

Bushmen,  The,  63,  278,  280. 

Bush  Negroes,  The,  185,  188,  272,  273, 

460-462,  498,  568. 
Butler,  Captain,  296. 
Butler,  Christian,  180. 
Buttermere,  91,  133,  156. 
Buxton,  Sir  Edward  N.,  398. 
Byhan,  Gottlieb,  296,  363. 

Cadoret,  Pastor,  349. 
Cairo,  179. 

Caldwell,  John,  215,  316. 
Caledon,  Lord,  334. 
California,  563,  564. 
Calixtus,  I. 
Calvary,  562. 
Camb,  92. 
Camden,  N.J.,  404. 
Camden  Valley,  N.V.,  359,  360. 
Cammerhof,  John  Frederick,  119,  145, 
169. 


Campbell,  Alexander,  223. 
Canaan,  Indian  Territory,  529. 
Canaan,  N.  Dak.,  523. 
Canada,  263. 

Canajoharie,  140,  142,  143,  407. 
Canstein,  5,  18,  32. 

Cape  Colony,  63,  234,  275,  276-281,  333, 
334,  375-378,  423-426,  463-466,  498- 
503-  536-538,  568,  569. 

Cape  Town,  536. 

Carey,  John,  352,  394,  395,  396,  443, 
444. 

Caries,  Zacharias,  161,  162,  184,  249, 

271,  288. 
Caritas,  320. 
Carlscrona,  285. 
Carmarthen,  287. 
Carmel,  Alaska,  545-547,  566. 
Carmel,  Jamaica,  184,  271,  272,  370,  457. 
Carnarvom,  287. 
Carnegie,  James,  576. 
Carteret,  Lord,  136. 
Carpzov,  Benedict,  3. 
Cashmere,  Maharajah  of,  537. 
Cassel,  72. 
Casselton,  560. 
Castell,  Count,  17,  21. 
Castell,  Theodora,  21,  22. 
Castelton  Corners,  483,  523. 
Catawba  River,  The,  170,  171. 
Catawbas,  The,  1 70,  295. 
Catechism,  The,  96. 
Catharine  H  of  Russia,  208,  210. 
Cathcart,  Captain,  326. 
Catharina  Sophia,  Surinam,  420. 
Cayugas,  The,  243. 
Cedar  Hall,  373,  415,  418,  494. 
Cennick,  John,  128-130,  133,  161,  162, 

163,  165,  215,  394. 
Central  Asia  (see  the  Himalayan  Mission). 
Centralia,  Wis.,  526,  560. 
Centreville,  N.C.,  562. 
Centreville,  N.J.,  404. 
Cevennes,  The,  92. 
Ceylon,  65,  66,  95. 
Chaguanas,  563. 
Chapman,  91. 

Charles  Augustus  of  Wiirttemberg,  69. 
Charles  of  Denmark,  Prince,  32,  45. 
Charlesworth,  James,  149,  164,  165,  168. 
Charlottenburg,  Surinam,  375,  420. 
Charselz,  6. 
Chaska,  448,  449,  450. 
Chaska  school,  447. 
Chaux-de-Fonds,  477. 
Chelsea,  146. 

Cherokees,  The,  78,  170,  295,  296,  322, 

362-364,  529,  566. 
Cherokees,  The  removal  of  the,  362- 

364. 
Cheshire,  1 31. 


INDEX. 


607 


Chesterfield,  Lord,  136. 

Chickasaws,  The,  170,  295. 

Chief  Elders,  37,  41. 

Chief  Eldership,  The,  96-101,  169,  436. 

Childs,  171. 

China,  178,  432,  433,  469,  470. 
Chilloway,  Job,  245. 

Children,  Awakening  among  the,  40,  345. 
Chippeways,  The,  262,  263,  295. 
"Choirs,"  42,  116,  144,  164,  166,  219, 

292,  300.  343.  350,  352,  379>  399- 
Chot,  569. 
Christ  Church,  563. 
Christ,  Francis,  452. 
Christian  V  of  Denmark,  52. 
Christian  VI  of  Denmark,  50. 
Christian  VII  of  Denmark,  206,  230. 
Christian  VIII  of  Denmark,  414. 
Christian  Endeavor,  548. 
Christiania,  285. 

Christiansfeld,  230,  285,  306,  386,  439. 

Christianspring,  174,  292,  318. 

Christensen,  Thomas,  327. 

Christoph,  A.,  583. 

Christopher,  186. 

Chudleigh,  Cape,  327,  453. 

Church  Book  (British),  518,  558. 

Church  Book,  (German),  551. 

"Church   Constittttion  of  thf  Bohemian 

and  Moravian  ^/YMrfM,"Seifferth,445. 
"Church  Diet,"  The,  388. 
Church  Extension,   District  Boards  of, 

486. 

Church  Extension  Fund,  The,  486. 
Church  Extension,  Provincial  Board  of, 

485,  486,  488,  561. 
Church,  John,  331. 
Church,  Samuel,  272. 
Church,  Samuel  Frederick,  352,  393. 
Clagett,  Wyseman,  132. 
Clarence,  Chief  Henry,  532. 
Clark,  Abraham  B.,  406. 
Clarke,  General,  280. 
Clarkesfield,  351. 
Clarkson,  424,  499. 
"Classes"  (see  "Bands"). 
Clauder,  A.  C.  and  H.  T.,  452. 
Clauder,  Henry  G.,  363,  364. 
Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  The,  427,  459. 
Clemens,  Augustus,  437,  458,  474,  476. 
Clemens,  Frederick,  533. 
Clemens,  Godfrey,  125,  156,  157,  194, 

205,  237. 
Clemens,  Godfrey,  of  England,  5 1 6. 
Clemens,  Herman,  497. 
Cleveland,  403. 
Clevia,  460. 

Clewell,  John  H.,  523,  524,  562. 
Clewell,  Louis  P.,  449,  523. 
Clifden,  288. 
Clifton  Hill,  419. 


Coatesville,  403. 

Codex  Fridericianus,  The,  1 96. 

Codnor,  165. 

Coffycamp,  422,  462. 

College  at  Niesky,  The,  338,  340,  385, 

438,  441,  476,  513,  514. 
Collis,  288. 
Combe,  374,  535. 
Comenius,  5,  n,  13,  38,  50,  77. 
Comenius  Hall,  562. 
Comenius,  Life  of,  Benham,  445. 
Commissions  of   Investigation,  Saxon, 

47.  72,  123,  124. 
"  Confessors  of  Christ,"  20. 
Confirmation,  38,  44,  232. 
Congress,  253,  259,  293. 
Conneaught,  The,  294. 
Connor,  James,  477,  481,  510,  511,  55S, 

56s. 

Connor,  Samuel,  441. 
Constantinople,  97,  178. 
Constitution  of  the  American  Province, 
The,  446. 

Constitution  of  the  Moravian  Church,The, 
203,  218,  219,  434-436,  471-472,  509, 
510,  576-579- 

Constitution  of  the  German  Province,The, 

549,  551- 

Constitutional  changes  ^itated,  318,  319, 
387.  39C>-392,  395.  397,  400,401,405, 
488,  515,  559,  562. 

Cook,  122. 

Cooke,  131,  161,  163. 
Coolies,  The,  497,  568. 
Coolspring,  399. 
Cooney,  Charles,  443. 
Coopersburg,  523. 
Cooperstown,  Wis.,  407. 
Cootehill,  161,  162,  214,  352. 
Copenhagen,  45,  49,  50,  198,  285. 
Copts,  The,  178,  179. 
"Cordelia,"  The,  529. 
Corn  Island,  459,  495. 
Cornelius,  Native  Helper,  269. 
Cornwall,  91. 

Cossart,  Frederick,  97,  134,  136,  149, 

152,  161. 
Court,  M.,  198. 

"Covenant  of  the  Four  Brethren,  The," 
24- 

Coveville,  448,  483. 

Crakau,  Daniel,  564. 

Craig,  General,  280. 

Cranz,  David,  1 19,  237. 

Cranz,  George  David,  346,  434,  437. 

Crediton,  556. 

Creeks,  The,  78,  170,  295,322. 
Crisenius,  19,  20. 

Crispe,  Mary  (Stonehouse),  133,  149,  150. 
Croger,  Ernest  William,  388,  434,  437, 
476. 


6o8 


INDEX. 


Crook,  443. 

Cross  Hills,  168. 

Crossard,  288. 

Culworth,  249,  289,  315. 

Cumberland  Inlet,  413. 

Cumming's  Lodge,  495,  568. 

Cunow,  John  Godfrey,  299,  300,  302, 

310,  335,  336,  339,  343. 
Cunow,  Godfrey  Andrew,  389,  393,  396, 

436,  437,  441,  454,  455,  465- 
Cunow,  John  Gebhard,  291,  317,  357. 
Cupido,  Christian,  273. 
Curie,  Peter  Frederick,  344,  346,  357, 

379,  380,  381,  385,  390- 
Cuyahoga,  The,  262. 
Cuyler,  Colonel,  376. 
Czemitscheff,  General  Zacharias  von, 

208. 

Czemitscheff,  Ivan  von,  208,  209. 

Daehne,  Christopher,  186-188,  273. 

Dahl,  Edmund,  565. 

Dale,  165. 

Damietta,  178. 

Damnitz,  von,  151,  153. 

Danebrog,  The  Order  of  the,  50. 

Daniel  (Labrador),  453. 

Danish  Lutheran  Church,  The,  579-581. 

Danke,  John  Henry,  179. 

Dansbury,  Pa.,  140. 

Dauba,  554,  555. 

David,  Christian,  8,  10,  13,  14,  15,  27, 

29.  34.  38,  39.  45.  46,  58.  62,  73,  74, 

89,  112,  125. 
Debt  of  the  Unity,  The,  202-204,  218, 

227-229,  235,  248,  301. 
Decknatel,  120,  147,  151. 
Delamotte,  Charles,  79,  90,  131,  132. 
Delawares,  The,  17S1  243.  245,  260,  294, 

321,  365- 
Delmian,  64. 

Demerara,  454,  495,  534,  535,  568. 

Demetrius  of  Novgorod,  209. 

Deniuth,  Christopher,  10. 

Dcmuth,  Gotthard,  79. 

I^enke,  Christian  Frederick,  295,  322. 

Denkwurdi_!;keilen    aus  der  alien  und 

neuen  Brudcr-Geschichte,  Plitt,  388. 
Denmark,  6,  45,  197,  229. 
Dennis,  Governor,  175. 
Department  of  Missions  (see  Mission 

Board  and  Unity's  Elders'  Conference). 
"  Department  of  the  Unity,"  The,  509. 
Derbyshire,  131. 
Derryscallop,  162. 
D'Esneval,  Count,  179. 
Detroit,  260-262,  292,  321. 
Detterer,  Carrie,  547. 
Detterer,  F.  \V.,  563. 
Detterer,  J.  J.,  407,  523,  563. 
Deulschcn  Kalechismen  der  Bohmischcn 

Bruder,  Die,  Miiller,  515. 


Deutsche  Zeilschrifl  fur  Christliche  Wis- 
seuschaft.  The,  388. 

Dewitz,  Alexander  von,  473,  514. 

Diariwn  der  Hutlen,  74. 

Diaritim  des  Jungerhauses,  9,  74. 

Diary  of  Berlin  and  Rixdorf,  The,  10. 

Diaspora,  The,  75,  92,  96,  126,  154, 
155,  199,  201,  205,  219,  230,  2S5,  311, 
342,  345.  347-349,  381-383,  387,  389, 
438,  439,  475,  476,  512,  585- 

Diaspora  in  1 789,  The,  235,  236. 

"Die  Briidergemeine  und  die  Lttlher- 
ische  Kirche  in  Livland,"  Plitt,  438. 

Die  Gevieine  Goltes,  Plitt,  440. 

Diener  Collegium,  The,  218. 

Dietrich,  27. 

Dietze,  305. 

Dillon,  Count,  271. 

Dilsheim,  1 19. 

Dingwall,  John,  568,  576. 

"  Diocese  Posen  II,"  384. 

Dippel,  116. 

Directorium  (Directing  Board),  The,  203, 

204,  205,  200,  213. 
Directing  Board  of  the  Unity,  The,  577- 

579- 

Dissensions  at  Hernihut,  35-37. 

Districts  (American),  448,  472,  482. 

District  Conferences,  British,  397. 

District  Synods,  526. 

Dixon  Chapel,  The  Mary,  526. 

Dixon,  Geo.  \V.,  522,  526. 

Djukas  (see  Aukas). 

Doben,  304,  305. 

Dober,  Andrew,  85. 

Dober,  Christian  Solomon,  301,  310. 

Dober,  Leonard,  35,  37,  51-55,  69,  74, 

96,  97,  133,  150,  152,  157,  164,  200, 

202-204. 

Dober,  Martin,  35,  37,  97,  112,  114,  133. 

Dober,  Paul,  552,  583,  584. 

Dober,  Theodore,  340. 

Dobler,  Theodore,  421. 

Doctrinal    Position   of   the  Moravian 

Church,  The,  220,  221,  337,  471,  477, 

508,  509,  583,  592. 
Dohna,  Count,  237. 
Domke,  Charles  Frederick. 
Doncaster,  289. 
Donegal,  Pa.,  i4o,  318. 
Dornford,  151. 
Dorpat,  383. 
Dover,  Ohio,  399. 

Drachart,  Lawrence,  i8l,  222,  223,  268. 
Drammen,  285. 

Dresden,  3,  6,  17,  23,  24,  31,  IQ^- 
Dresdener  Socrates,  The,  31. 
Drexler,  46 1. 

Drumargan,  162,  166,  288. 
Dublin,  134,  161,  163,  250,  287. 
Dublin,  Lord,  136. 

Durninger,  Abraham,  151,  IS4,  229,  301 


INDEX. 


609 


DufHeld,  165. 
Dukinfield,  163,  165. 
Dumfries,  215. 
Duminer,  90. 
Dupp,  Governor,  171. 
Durdham  Down,  444. 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  The,  63, 
276. 

Dutch  Surinam  Company,  The,  62. 
Duvernoy,  Jacob  Christopher,  283,  310. 
555- 

Earl  Township,  292. 

Early  Easter  Service,  The,  43. 

Earthquakes,  418,  457. 

P'ast  Equatorial  Africa,  570-575. 

East  Indies,  The,  65  (see  Ceylon,  Tran- 

quebar,  Malabar,  Nicobar,  Serampore, 

Palna),  234,  274-275. 
Easton,  Pa.,  175,  253,  526. 
Ebenezer,  Australia,  466-468,  505. 
Ebenezer,  Wis.,  404,  407,  449,  450,  452. 
Eberle,  Jacob  Amandus,  481. 
Eberman,  Clarence  E.,  523. 
Eberman,  William,  370,  400,  405. 
Ebersdorf,  23,  31,  73,  95,  122,  123,  158, 

178,  197,  201,  306. 
Ecclesiolae  in  ecclesia,  4,  6,  17,  18,  24, 

86,  438. 
Eckhartshaus,  119. 

"Economy"   at  Bethlehem,  The,  143, 
176,  177. 

"  Economy"  in  Wachovia,  The,  242. 

Edeling,  19. 

Eden,  Jamaica,  371. 

Edenton,  170,  171. 

Edgehill,  James  Y.,  495. 

"  Edict  of  Toleration,"  The,  231. 

Edinburg,  215. 

Edmonds,  286. 

Edwards,  J.  Herbert,  479,  518,  556. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  139. 
Edwards,  William,  263,  293,  295. 
Edwards,  William  (Bishop),  395,  434, 
442. 

Edwin,  Miss,  183. 
Egede,  Hans,  45,  49,  50,  60. 
Egg  Harbor,  N.  J.,  448,  486. 
Egg  Harbor,  Wis.,  486. 
Egypt,  178,  179.  217- 
Ehrle,  Augusta,  514. 
Einsiedel,  Charlotte  von,  310. 
El  Dorado,  Wis.,  483. 
Elders  chosen  at  Herrnhut,  37. 
Elias,  Commissioner,  538. 
Elim,  Cape  Colony,  377,  424,  499. 
Elinde,  568. 
Elizabeth,  N.J.,  449. 
Elizabeth  of  Russia,  118,  208. 
Eller,  64,  66. 
Ellerman,  466. 
40 


Elliott,  Robert,  479.  517.  SS^,  576. 
Ellis,  Charles  B.,  443. 
Ellis,  John,  370,  371. 
Ellis,  Thomas,  272,  331. 
Elmina,  64. 

Eisner,  Augustus  Ferdinand,  412,  453. 

Elukolweni,  503,  504,  569. 

^'mancipation  (see  Slavery,  Abolition  of ). 

Emmaus,  Jamaica,  184. 

Emmaus,  Pa.,  140,  253. 

Emmaus,  St.  John,  268,  329. 

Emtumasi,  502,  503. 

Enkelman,  Theodore,  496. 

Enge  Conferenz,  The,  202. 

England,  45,  76,  84-91,  123,  124,  128- 
137,  163-166,  196,  201,  213-215,  248, 
249,  286-290,  312-316,  350-356,  393- 
398,  441  445.  478-481,  516-518,  556- 
559- 

England,  Henry,  556. 

England,  John,  395,  434,  442,  478,  480, 

481,  516,  517,  558. 
English  Hymn-book,  The  first,  164. 
Engotini,  463. 

Enon,  Cape  Colony,  375,  376,  423,  499, 
568. 

Enon,  Indiana,  399. 
Enter,  Gottlieb,  138. 
Enterprise,  563. 
Entwanazana,  504,  537. 
Ephraim  on  the  Corentyne,  186,  187, 
272. 

Ephraim,  Wis.,  407. 

Ephrata,  Moskito,  459,  460,  530. 

Episcopate,  The  transfer  of  the  Moravian, 

67-77. 
Erebus,  The,  413. 
Erdmann,  Augustus,  493,  531. 
Erdmann,  Martin,  448,  567. 
Erfurth,  1 13. 

Erhardt,  John  Christian,  181,  182. 

Erie,  Lake,  294. 

Erlangen,  232. 

Ernst,  the  Pious,  I. 

Erxleben,  Louis,  477. 

Eschenbach,  Andrew,  82,  244. 

Eskimos,  The,  49,  50,  59-62. 

Eskimos  of  Alaska,  The,  540-543. 

Eskimo  Bay,  412. 

Essex,  John,  358. 

Essex,  William  W^isdom,  396. 

Esthonia,  285,  311. 

Estridge,  419. 

Etembeni,  568. 

Ethiopia,  178. 

Ettwein,  John,  241,  246,  252-254,  256, 
258,  259,  291,  294,  295,  317. 

Evaitgelische  Glaubenslehre,  Plitt,  440. 

"  Exclusive  System,"  The  Abolition  of 
the,  400,  401. 

Eydon,  249,  289. 


6io 


INDEX. 


Eyerly,  Jacob,  294.. 
Ezincuka,  501,  502,  537. 

Fabricius,  Wilhardus,  311,  339,  343. 
Fairfield,  Canada,  263,  292,  293,  295, 

321,  322,  364,  480,  529. 
Fairfield,  England,  289,  315,  352,  394. 
Fairfield,  Jamaica,  370,  415,  457,  534. 
"  Faithful  Part,"  The,  299. 
Falckner's  Swamp,  140. 
Fasciculus,  Neisser,  9. 
Feder,  Theodore,  57. 
Federal  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of 

Australia,  467. 
Fett,  John  Frederick,  402,  403,  407. 
Fetter  Lane,  88-91,  128,  133,  135,  223, 

249. 

Feurig,  Gustavus,  429. 
FiaUarema,  574. 

Fick,  Daniel  Henry,  210,  211,  230. 
Fiedler,  Timothy,  46. 
Financial  Settlement  in  1857,  The,  435, 
436- 

Financial  System  in  America,  The,  176, 
177,  242,  243,  399,  407-409,  520,  521. 

Financial  System  in  Britain,  The,  352, 
442. 

Financial  System  in  the  Zinzendorfian  Era, 
146-153. 

Financial  .System  in  the  post-Zinzen- 
dorfian  Era,  219,  227-229,  338,  344, 
.356,  380. 

Financial  System  in  Germany,  Modem, 

548,  551- 
Fingoos,  The,  424,  426. 
"First  .Sea  Congregation,"  The,  108,  log, 

140. 

Fischer,  John  Jacob,  297,  298,  331,  332. 
Fischer,  Rosina,  40. 
Fischer,  Thomas,  34. 
Fish  Creek,  407. 
Five  Islands,  Antigua,  418. 
Fliegel,  Bernard,  513. 
Fliegel,  John,  367. 
Flint  River,  322. 
Florenceville,  Iowa,  522. 
Foot-washing,  44,  337. 
Forestier,  Charles  von,  283,  301,  311, 
317- 

Forks  of  the  Delaware,  The,  81. 
"  Forscher,"  391. 
Forscher  Beleuchlet,  Der,  391. 
Fort  George  de  la  Mina,  64. 
Fort  Howard,  403. 
Fort  Stanwix,  Treaty  of,  245. 
Foster,  184. 
Foster,  Edward,  534. 
Foster,  Frederick  William,  314,  350,  352. 
Foundry  Society,  The,  90. 
Francke,  Augustus  Herman,  3,  4,  18, 
'9,  32- 


Francke,  Theophilus  Augustus,  71,  89' 
108. 

Frankfort  Land  Co.,  The,  102. 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  73,  116,  117. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  174,  254, 
Franklin,  Sir  John,  413. 
Franz,  Pastor,  155. 
Fraternal  Messenger,  The,  39I,  395. 
Frazer,  Captain,  327. 
Frearson,  Isaac,  132. 
Freeh,  Theobald,  223. 
Frederick  the  Fourth  of  Denmark,  50. 
Frederick  the  Great,  112,  114,  231. 
Frederick  Augustus,  the  Strong,  72. 
Frederick,  Jonathan  Charles,  532. 
Frederick  of  Wales,  Prince,  136. 
Frederick  William  I  of  Prussia,  75,  76, 
77,  94- 

Frederick  William  III  of  Prussia,  31 1, 

383,  384. 
Freedom,  Wis.,  449. 
"Fremdenslunde"  The,  43. 
French  and  Indian  War,  The,  172-175. 
French  River,  The,  263. 
Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  504. 
Fresenius,  Dr.,  125. 
Frey,  Andrew,  104. 
Frey,  Henry,  104,  173. 
Frey,  William,  104. 
Freydek,  Von,  68. 
Friebele,  John  Adam,  404. 
Friedberg,  242. 
Friedensberg,  268,  330,  457. 
Friedensfeld,  330. 
Friedenshiittcn,  243-246. 
Friedensstadt,  245,  246. 
Friedensthal,  Penna.,  318. 
Friedensthal,  St.  Croix,  58,  182,  268. 
Friedland,  242. 
Friedrich,  Tobias,  41. 
Friedrichsthal,  Greenland,  366,  367,  410, 

490,  527- 
Fries,  Arnold  de,  366. 
Fries,  John  Jacob,  171. 
Fries,  John  W.,  563,  581. 
Fries,  Peter  Conrad,  210. 
Fritsch,  David,  34. 
Fritsch,  John,  377,  423. 
Fritsche,  208,  211. 
Frohlich,  Christian,  82,  140. 
Froreisen,  Dr.,  125. 
FrueauflF,  Eugene  A.,  407,  447,  485. 
Frueauff,  Frederick  Renatus,  237,  380, 

387.  394- 
Frueauff,  John  Frederick,  357. 
Fry's  Valley,  448,  450,  523. 
Fu  Ahing,  Lazarus,  568. 
Fiinen,  198,  285. 

Fulneck,  England,  134,  148,  149,  164, 
287,  289,  314,  315,  355,  397,  398,  516, 
517- 


INDEX. 


6ii 


Fulneck,  Jamaica,  417,  457. 
Fulp,  563. 

Ga  Puntzog,  569. 

Gablonz,  555. 

Galizin,  Prince,  382.- 

Galloway,  288. 

Gambold,  Heclor,  139. 

Gambold,  John,  86,  88,  133,  149,  164, 

168,  213,  249. 
Gambold,  John  (Indian  Missionary),  322, 

362. 

Gambold,  Mrs.,  323. 

Gansee,  460,  462,  499. 

Gapp,  Philip  H.,  403,  404,  407,  449. 

Gardelin,  Governor,  53. 

Gardiner,  John,  270. 

Garrison,  Captain,  no,  122,  186. 

Gattermeyer,  John,  173. 

Gebhardsdorf,  7. 

Gedenktage  der  A  lien  und  der  Erneuerien 

Bruderkirche,  Die,  341. 
Geisler,  John  Christian,  282,  yx),  311. 
Gelelemend,  294. 
Gemein-Diakonie,  The,  147. 
Gemein  Nachrichten,  The,  155,  337. 
Gemeinstunde"  The,  43. 
^'■Gemeintag"  The,  43. 
Genadendal,  281,  333,  334,  376,  378, 

423-426,  464,  46s,  498,  536. 
Genadendal,  The  bell  of,  278-280. 
General  Conference,  The,  98,  113,  1 14, 

148. 

General  Elders'  Conferences,  481. 
Geneva,  96,  158. 
Genth,  332. 

George  William  (Moskito),  459. 
Georgetown,  568. 

Georgia,  76,  78, 94, 242,296, 322, 362-364. 
Georgia,  The  trustees  of,  78,  85. 
Gerah,  Wis.,  483. 
Gerhard,  Paul,  I. 
Gerlachsheim,  7. 

German  East  Africa,  563,  564,  570-575. 
Germantown,  Pa.,  106,  107,  140. 
Germany,  Wis.,  407. 
Gersdorf,  Abraham  von,  112,  113,  122, 

135,  136,  152,  202,  206,  218. 
Gersdorf,  Charlotte  Justina  von,  17. 
Gersdorf,  George  Ernest  von,  38,  47,  151, 

155.  301. 
Gersdorf,  Gottlob  von,  22. 
Gersdorf,  Henrietta  von,  18,  22,  40,  72, 

108. 

Gersdorf,  Henrietta  Catharine  von,  15, 

18,  22,  25,  26,  49. 
Gersdorf,  Nicholas  von,  17. 
Gersdorf,  Sigismund  Augustus  von,  ni, 

146,  152,  156,  237. 
Geschichle  der  erneuerien  und  der  alien, 

Bruderkirche,  Croger,  388,  389. 


Geyer,  William,  449. 

Giersdorf,  387. 

Giessen,  232. 

Giffords,  487. 

Gilroy,  Robert,  224. 

Glasgow,  215. 

Glenavy,  166,  394. 

Glew,  John,  223. 

Glikkikan,  244. 

Glockler,  Christian,  369. 

Gloonen,  134,  161,  162,  167. 

Gnadau,  205,  303,  304,  305,  311,  476. 

Gnadenberg,  1 12,  II 7,  205,  309,  437. 

Gnadenfeld,  205,  231,  338,  340,  351,  513. 

Gnadenfrei,  H2,  1 17,  1 1 8,  205,309,439. 

Gnadenhiitten  on  the  Mahoni,  143,  172, 

173,  174,  264,  295,  318. 
Gnadenhiitten,  Ohio,  246,  260-262,  295, 

318,  361,  448. 
Gnadenhiitten,  O.,  Early  families  of,  293. 
Gnadentlial,  Pa.,  318. 
Gnadenthal,  Russia,  513. 
Gobat,  Bishop,  506. 
Gobel,  Dr.  C.  F.,  437. 
Goedverwacht,  424,  464,  537. 
Goejaba,  462. 

Goepp,  Philip  Henry,  361,  399,  401,  402, 

405,  407,  434,  446,  450,  484. 
Gorlitz,  7,  14,  24. 
Gottingen,  232. 
Goldberg,  437,  549. 

Goldmann,  Godfrey,  282,  301,  303,  305. 
Goldschmidt,  Frederick  Henry,  151. 
Gomersal,  163,  165,  289. 
Good  Hope,  399. 
'Good  Luck,"  294. 
Gordon,  465. 

Gorke,  John  Godfrey.  326,  367. 
Goshen,  Cape  Colony,  537. 
Goshen,  Indiana,  358. 
Goshen,  N.  Dakota,  487,  523. 
Goshen,  O.,  293-295,  318,  320,  321,  322, 
361. 

Goschgoschiink,  244,  245. 
Gotha,  95,  113. 
Gothenburg,  285. 
Gotter,  Gustavus,  113. 
Gottlieb,  Surinam,  460. 
Gottlob  (Labrador),  453. 
Gottschalk,  140. 
Gottwald,  Daniel,  250,  270. 
Government  of  the  Saviour,  The,  99. 
Grace  Hall  (Fulneck),  134. 
Gracebay,  Antigua,  329,  331,  418. 
Gracefield,  Antigua,  418,  441. 
Gracefield,  Ireland,  214. 
Graceham,  140,  446. 
Gracehill,  Antigua,  270. 
Gracehill,  Iowa,  449. 
Gracehill,  Ireland,  162,  167,  214,  250, 
288,  289,  290,  350,  353,  356,  516. 


6l2 


INDEX. 


Gradin,  Arvid,  97,  1 18. 

Graham's  Hall,  535,  568    (see  Cum- 

ming's  Lodge). 
Grand  Rapids,  Wis.,  526. 
Granville,  Lord,  135,  136,  165,  170,  171. 
Grasmann  family,  The,  II. 
Grasmann,  Andrew,  61,  62,  65,  95,  98, 

114,  157,  200,  202,  205,  237. 
Grasmann,  John,  275. 
''Great  Awakening,"  The,  139. 
Great  Princess  Plantation,  414. 
Greek  Church,  The,  97,  118,  209,  210. 
Green,  Samuel,  242. 
Greenbay,  403,  407. 

Greenland,  45,  58-62,  151,  234,  264- 
266,  324-327,  366-367,  410-411,  413, 

453.  489,  490.  527,  528,  566,  579-581- 
Greenland,  N.J.,  242. 
Greengates,  396. 
Greenside,  315. 
Greenville,  N.J.,  404. 
Gregor,  Christian  Frederick,  203,  204, 

218,  231,  233,  234,  235,  241,  282,  301, 

302. 

Gregor,  Christian  Frederick,  jr.,  284, 381, 
389- 

Gregor,  The  hymn-book  of,  233,  234. 

Greider,  Edwin  C,  567. 

Greider,  Eugene  P.,  450,  524. 

Greifswald,  68. 

Greytown,  427,  429. 

Gribble,  William,  556. 

Grillich,  John  George,  324,  325,  367. 

Grisons,  The,  198. 

Groche,  Eugene,  510. 

Groenekloof,  334. 

Grbnland,  Historie  von,  Cranz,  207,  222. 

Grogan,  162. 

Groh,  Pastor,  155. 

Groningen,  94. 

Groot  Chatillon,  568. 

Grottau,  555. 

Grotthausen,  Dr.,  55. 

Grube,  Bernard  Adam,  171,  240. 

Gruber,  John  Adam,  104,  106. 

Grunert,  M.  E.,  524. 

Gruschwitz,  Alexander,  515. 

Guebres,  The,  178. 

Giinther,  Louis,  547. 

Gilnther,  Ulrich,  404,  449. 

GUtslaff,  Dr.,  432. 

GUttner,  John,  186. 

Gui,  569. 

Guinea,  64,  210,  217. 
Gumbrecht,  Pastor,  438. 
Gussenbauer,  91,  131,  165. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  Association,  The, 
388. 

Gutbier,  John  Christian,  25. 
Gulsleff,  75,  208. 
Gwazela,  Paul,  504. 


Haarlem,  284. 

Habendorf,  205. 

Haberecht,  Godfrey,  79. 

Haberland,  George,  II. 

Haberland,  Julia,  45. 

Haberland,  Michael,  79. 

Hafner,  John,  564. 

Hafa,  332. 

Haga,  Godfrey,  361. 

Hagen,  Francis  F.,  405,  407,  447,  486. 

Hagen,  John,  143,  295. 

Hagenauer,   Frederick  Augustus,  466, 

467,  539.  564- 
Hahn,  Ernest  Nathanael,  437,  474,  476. 
Hakinkpomagii,  294. 
Halifax,  131,  136. 
Hall,  James  E.,  563. 
Hall  (Moskito),  495. 
Hallert,  Lady  von,  75,  1 18. 
Hallbeck,  John  Peter,  376,  377,  424. 
Halle,  4,  5,  6,  19,  20,  32,  40,  47,  89,  107. 

108,  197,  232,  274. 
Haller,  John,  536. 
Halter,  Adam,  424. 
Haltmeyer's,  448. 
Haman,  Adam,  329. 
Haman,  James,  483. 
Hamilton,  Alan,  415. 
Hamilton,  J.  Taylor,  526,  562. 
Hamiltons  of  Tobago,  The,  271,  331, 

373- 

Hampstead,  133. 
Hancock,  John,  252. 
Hanke,  Samuel  David,  384. 
Hanna,  George  Henry,  533. 
Hanna,  John  James,  479. 
Hankey,  Alderman,  150. 
Hanover,  198. 

Hans,  Christian  Theodore,  511,  512. 

Hansen,  John,  341. 

Hardenberg,  Joshua,  464. 

Hark,  Frederick,  451. 

Harmony,  Iowa,  449. 

"  Harmony,"  The,  368. 

Harris,  Howell,  129,  168,  249. 

Harrison,  General,  321,  322. 

Harrowgate,  449. 

Hartley,  John,  237,  287,  314,  316. 

Hartmann,  Adolphus,  505,  529,  543,  544. 

Hartmann,  John  Gottlieb,  421. 

Hartmann,  John  Henry,  501,  504. 

Hartmann,  Mary,  421,  422. 

Hartmansdorf,  38. 

Hartwig,  Eugene,  415. 

Harvey,  Bennet,  373,  481. 

Ha.sse,  Alexander  Cossart,  517,  558. 

Hasse,  Leonard,  518,  558. 

Ha.sse,  Otto  William,  207. 

Hasting,  John  Lewis,  533. 

Hasting,  Herman,  504. 

Hattwig,  WilUam,  439. 


INDEX. 


613 


Haugk,  William,  492. 
Mauser,  Martin,  358,  359,  399,  407.  45°. 
485. 

Haven,  Jens,  222-226,  268. 

Haven,  John  Benjamin,  320. 

Haverfordwest,  163,  164,214. 

Haynes  family.  The,  373. 

Haynes,  Oliver,  576. 

Ha/.eliiis,  Ernest  Lewis,  317. 

"  Hearts  of  Steel,"  Disturbances  caused 

by  the,  250. 
Heaton,  151. 

Hebron,  Labrador,  368,  41 1,  412,  454. 
Hebron,  Minn.,  449,  483. 
Hebron,  Pa.,  no,  140,  253. 
Heckewelder,  David,  130,  132. 
Heckewelder,  John,  246,  293,  294,  295, 
362. 

Heckmondwike,  478. 
Hector,  526. 

Hedwig  Sophia  of  Denmark,  Princess, 
45- 

Heerendyk,  Holland,  76,  92,  95,  151, 

159,  229. 
Heerendyk,  Surinam,  420. 
Hegner,  J.  K.,  300. 
Hehl,  Matthew,  169,  171,  238,  241. 
Heidelberg,  Pa.,  108,  no,  140. 
Heidenreich,  72. 
Heim,  131. 
Heimthal,  561. 
Heine,  Christopher,  138,  161. 
Heinze,  Christian,  367. 
Heitz,  John  George,  16,  23,  25,  26. 
Hclfer  Collegium,  The,  21S. 
Helmstadt,  232. 
Hemel-en-Sarde,  376. 
Hempfield,  Pa.,  292. 
Henderson,  Minn.,  449. 
Hendricks  Co.,  Indiana,  403. 
Hendy,  Albert,  532. 
Henkelmann,  Godfrey,  561. 
Hennersdorf,  Gross,  7,  15,  i8,  22,  148, 

155.  203,  218,  348. 
Hennersdorf,  The  College  at,  155. 
Hennicke,  Count,  123. 
Hennig,  Paul,  569. 
"Herald;'  The,  496,  532. 
Herbst,  Christopher,  331. 
Herbst,  John,  318. 
Herman,  G.  L.,  396. 
Hermanitz,  lo. 

Hermann,  John  Gottlieb,  381,  386,  389, 
404,  417. 

Herrnhaag,  92,  93,  94,  II9,  123,  125-127, 
206,  389. 

Hermhut,  8,  10,  25-27,  30,  34-48,  50- 
52,66,68,69,71,  72,  112,  116,  123, 
154-160,  200,  205,  227,  228,  234, 
277,  297,  300,  306,  336,  432,  439,  440. 

Hermhut  Bible  Society,  The,  532,  568. 


Herrnhut,  The  centenary  of,  341. 
Hermhut,  Crisis  of  1728,  46. 
Herrnhut,  Crisis  of  1731,  47. 
Herrnhut,   The   institutions   of,  1727- 

1732,  40-45- 
Herrnhut,  Relation  to  Berthelsdorf,  40. 
Herrnhut,  The,  440. 
Herzogwald,  555. 
Hey,  Nicholas,  558,  564. 
Heyde,  Augustus  William,  432,  468, 

538. 

Heyde,  Herr  von,  205. 
Hickel,  David,  33. 
Hickel,  Philip  Emil,  536. 
Hicks,  Abraham,  363. 
Hicks,  Christian  Renatus,  363. 
"  Hidden  Seed,"  The,  6-12. 
Hill,  161. 
Hillberg,  475. 
Hillmer,  284. 

Himalayan  Mission, The, 432,  433,468- 

470,  538- 
Hinchcliffe,  Joseph,  394. 
Hines,  Thomas  Henry,  517,  518,  556, 

558. 

Hintz,  John  Frederick,  85. 
Hirschberg,  Synod  of,  1 14. 
Hirschel,  Tobias,  8. 
Hirschel,  Zacharias,  8,  1 17,  178. 
Hirtenbrief  of  Kulenkamp,  The,  64,  66, 
94. 

Historical  Sketches  of  the  Missions  of  the 
United  Brethren,  Holmes,  354. 

History  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  the 
United  Brethren,  Holmes,  354. 

History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  The,  de 
Schweinitz,  525. 

Hlavatschek,  Samuel,  490. 

Hlubis,  The,  501. 

Hoch,  Jacob  Jonathan,  459. 

Hoch,  Samuel,  370. 

Hoch,  William  H.,  483. 

Hochmann,  116. 

Hockel,  149. 

Hooker,  Christian  Frederick,  178,  179. 
Holterhof,  208,  211. 
Hogg,  Quintin,  495,  534. 
Hofmann,  19. 
Hofmann,  Dr.,  125. 

Hoffman,  Herman  S.,  449,  486,  488,  519. 
Hoffmann,  Christopher,  37. 
Hoffman,  John  Frederick,  375,  377. 
Hohenthal,  Baron  Peter  von,  237. 
Holbeck,  131. 

Holland,  72,  76,  92,  94,  95,  122,  148- 

152,  197,  204,  276. 
Holland,  Francis  R.,  406,  450,  485,  486, 

487,  563- 
Holland,  John  F.,  322. 
Holland,  William,  90. 
Holly  Springs,  450. 


6i4 


INDEX. 


Holmes,  John  Beck,  344,  354,  355,  393. 

Holstein,  92,  198,  230,  285. 

Holy  Communion,  The,  43. 

"  Holy  Clnb,"  The,  86,  87. 

Holzendorf,  von,  72. 

Home  Mission  Board,  The,  406,  446. 

Home  Missionary  Society  of  Bethlehem, 

Pa.,  The,  401,  402,  406. 
Home  Missionary  Society  (British),  397, 

443- 

Home  Missionary  Society  of  North 
Carolina,  The  United  Brethren's, 
360,  399. 

Home  Missions,  American,  357-360,  399, 
402-404,  406-407,  482,  483,  522,  523. 

Home  Missions,  British,  443,  478. 

Homes  for  retired  missionaries,  489. 

Hope,  Indiana,  358,  359,  399,  450. 

Hope  Female  Seminary,  450,  519,  522. 

Hope,  Synod  at,  487,  488,  519. 

Hope,  New  Jersey,  242,  292,  318. 

Hope,  Surinam,  272,  331,  332. 

Hopedale,  Labrador,  182,  266,  267,  327, 
412,  454. 

Hopedale,  Pa.,  360,  448. 

Hopewell,  399. 

Home,  William,  130,  161,  167,  286. 
Homig,  Godfrey,  375. 
Horsefield,  83,  145,  170. 
Horlon,  131,  394. 

Hospital  of  the  American  Army,  The, 
252. 

"Hospitality,"  294. 

Hottentots,  63,  276-281,  376,  426,  464. 
"  Hourly  Intercession,"  The,  40,  337, 

345- 
Houtkloof,  424. 
Howell,  Philip,  331. 
Hoy,  Nils,  211. 
Hoyler,  Clement,  561. 
Hoyler,  Jacob,  526,  563. 
Huber,  Mary,  545. 
Huckoff,  Henry,  64. 

Hudson's  Bay  Company,  The,  181,  327, 
412,  454. 

Huebner,  John  Andrew,  258,  291,  301, 
310. 

Huebner,  Lewis  R.,  450,  451,  485. 
Huebener,  Dr.,  451. 
Hiibner,  Louis,  294. 
Hubner,  Christian,  432. 
Huffel,  Christian  Gottlieb,  2S7,  305,  344, 
357- 

Huhnerwasser,  555. 
Huldenberg,  72,  154. 
Hungary,  9,  n. 
Hunt,  William,  289. 
Hurlock,  286. 
Hurons,  The,  260. 

Hurricanes,  268,  270,  329,  369,  418,  419, 
457.  459.  465,  494,  496- 


Hus,  John,  12. 

Hussy,  Charles,  21 1. 

Hutberg,  The,  26,  43,  156,  159. 

Hutchins,  89. 

Hutchins,  Geographer  of  the  U.  S.,  259. 
Hutton,  J.  E.,  559. 

Hutton,  James,  86,  87-90,  1 14,  131,  132, 
133.  149.  152.  171,  198,  222,248,  254, 
258-263,  286. 

Hutton,  Memoirs  of  James,  Benham,  445. 

Hutton,  Robert,  556. 

Hymn-book  of  Gregor,  The,  223. 

Hymn-books,  91,  164,  214,  233,  234, 
395.448.  481,  517,  518. 

Iceland,  180. 

"Idea  Fidei  Fratrum"  Spangenberg, 
232.  233. 

Igdlorpait,  453. 

Ilion,  407. 

Imhoff,  Von,  66. 

Independence,  Iowa,  483. 

Indian  missions  in  North  America,  79, 
95,  108-110,  141-143,  170-176,  240, 
242-247,  292-296,  319-323,  361-365, 

529.  567- 
Indian  Territory,  364,  529,  530. 
Indianapolis,  560. 
Ingatestone  Hall,  163. 
Ingham,  Benjamin,  79,  86,  89,  90,  128, 

I3».  132,  134,  165. 
Investigator,  The,  413. 
Ipiana,  565,  574. 
Ipswich,  91. 

Ireland,  134,  161,  166,  196,  214,  250, 
316,  350.  352-354.  356.  393.  394.  395. 
441,  481,  516,  518,  556,  558. 

Irene,  The,  62,  122,  136,  145,  186. 

Irene,  Island  of,  79. 

Irish,  Nathanael,  82. 

Irish  Famine,  The,  393,  394,  395. 

Iroquois,  The,  108,  109,  142,  143,  243, 
245,  260. 

Irvine,  215,  288. 

Irwin  Hill,  331,  370,  417. 

Island,  plantation  in  Jamaica,  1S4. 

Isles,  Samuel,  184,  269. 

Ispahan,  178. 

Israel,  Christian  Gottlieb,  57. 
Israel,  John  Christopher,  448. 
Ivenak,  Samuel,  367. 
Iveraar,  David  Peter,  498. 
Iverson,  Andrew  M.,  402,  403. 
Iwersen,  Jorgen,  53. 
Ixonia,  407,  486. 

Jablonski,  9,  28,  46,  69,  70,  75,  76. 
Jackson,  Joseph,  272,  331. 
Jackson,  Dr.  Sheldon,  543. 
Jacky,  William,  452,  583. 
Jacobs,  Surinam,  421. 


INDEX. 


615 


Jacobson,  John  C,  400,  402,  405,  446, 

448,  450,  483. 
Jacques,  Native  helper,  421. 
Jaeschke  family.  The,  H. 
Jaeschke,  Christian,  27,  32. 
Jaeschke,  George,  14,  28. 
Jaeschke,  Henry  Augustus,   433,  469, 

506,  515. 
Jaeschke,  Michael,  15. 
Jaeschke,  N.  A.,  180. 
Jahn,  Charles  William,  390, 434,  436, 437. 
Jahn,  Herman,  553. 

Jamaica,  151,  183,  184,  271,  272,  331, 

369-373,  415-418,  455-458,  494,  534- 
Jamaica,  Provincial  Helpers  in,  417,533. 
Jamaica,  Title  to  properties  in,  534. 
Janaitefka,  231. 
Janik,  70. 

Jannasch,  Herman,  566. 

Jansen,  Governor,  333. 

Jeffe,  Magdalena,  514. 

^'■Jemima"  The,  327. 

Jena,  5,  46,  93,  113,  117,  232. 

Jena,  Association  of  students  at,  46. 

Jensen,  Governor,  281. 

Jensen,  Stephen,  223,  224. 

"Jersey  Packet"  The,  223,  224. 

Jerusalem  (Hospital  for  Lepers),  466, 

506,  507,  514,  583. 
Jesuits,  The,  6,  36. 
Jevi^s,  Mission  among  the,  97,  186. 
Johanneskirk,  499. 
Jonas,  Charles,  537. 
Jones,  Maurice,  402. 
Jones,  Thomas,  273. 
Jongquahamik,  295. 
Joppa,  Moskito,  459,  495. 
Jordan,  Francis,  447,  489. 
Joseph  II  of  Austria,  205,  231. 
Joshua,  Indian  helper,  295,  320. 
Judicum  duplex  de  regula  fidei,  50. 
Jungerhaus,  The,  74,  152,  155,  166,  200. 
Jungerhaus  Diarium,  The,  9. 
Jurgersen,  Paulsen,  429. 
Jung,  Michael,  292,  295,  322. 
Jungbunzlau,  555. 
Jungmann,  John  George,  244. 
Just,  Charles  William,  347. 
Jutland,  198,  285. 

Kaffirs,  The,  375,  376,  423-426,  499-501. 
Kaffraria,  425,  426,  463-465,  499-504, 

537,  538- 
Kajarnak,  61. 
Kalberlahn,  Dr.,  1 71. 
Kalkoen,  461. 

Kalmucks,  The,  209,  210,  212,  432. 
Kaltenbrunn,  John  G.,  403,  404,  407, 
452,  563. 

Kampmann,  Lewis  F.,  399,  405,  434, 
446,  450,  451,  485,  524. 


Kampstadt,  75. 
Kangersaut,  491. 

Kandler,  Ernest  George,  429,  459. 

Kapik,  327. 

Karpik,  222. 

Karata,  496,  530,  531. 

Kaska,  George,  138,  139. 

Kaskaskunk,  245. 

Kaufholz,  345. 

Kazan,  208,  211. 

Keffenbrink-Ascheraden,  Baroness,  466, 

506. 
Keld,  289. 

Kellett,  Captain,  413. 
Kensington,  133. 
Kernersville,  450. 
Kershavir,  Samuel,  479,  518,  556. 
Kersten,  Christopher,  273,  274. 
Kersten,  Jonathan,  568. 
Kickapoos,  322. 
Kiebeek,  Van,  63. 
Kilian,  F.  J.,  407. 
Kilbuck,  John  Henry,  544-547. 
Kilbuck,  Mrs.,  546,  547. 
Kilkeel,  162,  352,  394. 
Kilwarlin,  168,  288,  352-354. 
Kimbolton,  315,  350,  394. 
Kinchin,  89,  90. 
Kinder  Vriend,  De,  465, 
King,  John,  453,  460-462. 
King,  Samuel,  556. 
Kingminguse,  225. 
Kingswood,  129,  164,  165. 
Kirby-Lonsdale,  289. 
Kirchenmdnner,  The,  28-30. 
Kisselowa,  Rosina,  II. 
Klein,  George,  171. 

Kleinschmidt,  Frederick  Emanuel,  346, 

38s,  388,  439- 
Kleinschmidt,  John  Conrad,  325,  326, 

327,  366,  367. 
Kleinschmidt,  Samuel,  412,  490. 
Kleinvpelke,    159,   201,  306-309,  4S9, 

496. 

Klemm,  John  Gottlob,  41. 
Klesel,  Charles  J.,  558. 
Kleych,  Wenzel,  10. 
Klingsohr,  John  Augustus,  291. 
Klose,  John  Gottlieb,  419. 
Klose,  Edwin  G.,  451,  522,  563. 
Kluge,  Charles  F.,  389,  400,  401,  404, 
434- 

Kluge,  Edvpard  T.,  406,  561. 
Kluge,  Herman,  514. 
Kluge,  John  H.,  450. 
Kluge,  John  Peter,  295,  320,  332. 
Kmoch,  John  George,  327. 
Knight,  Thomas,  91,  161,  222. 
Knolton,  132. 
Knox,  Secretary,  242. 
Knoxborough,  Ga.,  242. 


6i6 


INDEX. 


Kober,  John  Frederick,  150,  152,  153, 

155,  156,  200,  201,  202,  206,  217,  218, 

229,  237. 
Koegel,  Henry,  489. 
Kdhler,  Councillor  von,  209,  211. 
Kolbing,  Frederick  Lewis,  338,  339,  341, 

343.  344,  345.  349-  380,  381. 
Kolbing,  Frederick  William,  388,  389. 
Kolbing,  John  Frederick  William,  235, 

282,  339,  343. 
Kolbing,  Paul,  551. 
Kolbing,  Rudolph,  424,  426,  464. 
Kolbing,  William  L.,  551,  553,  583. 
Konigseer,  Christopher  Michael,  295,  296. 
Konigseer,  Mrs.,  367. 
Konigsfeld,  303,  305,  306. 
Komer,  John,  327. 
Kother,  Andrew,  439. 
Kohlmeister,  Benjamin,  327. 
Kohrhammer,  John  Philip,  281,  333,  334. 
Kohrhammer,  Sister,  375. 
Kopjes  Kasteel,  424. 
Kosel,  205. 
Kotghur,  433. 

Kramer,  Jonathan,  3S9,  468. 

Kranich,  Christian  Frederick,  366,  367. 

Kranich,  John  Frederick,  326. 

Krausche,  112,  117. 

Krause,  J.  Samuel,  521. 

Krause,  Matthew,  407. 

Kremenka,  560. 

Kremsir,  34,  35. 

Kriebel,  19. 

Krugelstein,  208,  21 1. 

Kriiger,  Francis,  511. 

Krumpke,  40. 

Kiihn,  Frederick  William,  426,  465,  474, 

476,  480,  512,  536,  537. 
Kuhn,  William  Julius,  568. 
KUhnel,  Frederick,  35,  40. 
Kiihnel,  John  Christian,  276,  278,  280, 
^  334- 

Kiihnel,  Susanna,  40. 
Kiister,  Theodore,  423,  424,  465. 
Kuhlandl,  The,  10. 
Kukulaya,  496,  530. 
Kulenkamp,  64,  94. 
Kund,  Michael,  117,  178. 
Kunwalde,  10,  11,  27,  34. 
Kunz  family.  The,  11. 
Kuskokwim,  The  (see  Bethel). 
Kutschera  family,  The,  II. 
Kutschera,  Tobias,  11,  12. 
Kutti,  274. 
Kybodo,  64. 

Kyelang,  433,  468  470,  506,  538. 

La  Trobe,  Benjamin,  161,  163,  i68,  213, 
214,  248,  249. 

Trobe,  Benjamin  (Mission  Board), 
517,  528,  529,  558,  565,  583. 


La  Trobe,  Charles  James,  365. 
La  Trobe,  Charles  Joseph,  415,  431,  432, 
444,  518. 

La  Trobe,  Christian  Ignatius,  286,  301. 

La  Trobe,  Frederick,  558. 

La  Trobe,  James,  275,  396,  442,  443, 

444,  478,  480,  481,  507,  517,  558. 
La  Trobe,  Peter,  380,  395,  396,  434,  444. 
Labrador,  1 80-1 82,  213,  222-226,  266- 

268,  327,  367,  368,  411-413,  453,  454, 

490-493,  528-529,  566. 
Labrador,  Disturbances  in,  491-493,  528, 

529. 
Ladak,  433. 
Lafayette,  252. 
Lahul,  433. 
Lake  Boga,  431. 
Lake  Kopperamanna,  468. 
Lake,  Major,  433. 
Lake  Mills,  Wis.,  407,  450. 
Laketown,  448. 
Lamb's  Hill,  134. 
Lancashire,  131. 

Lancaster,  Pa.,  no,  140,  161,  168,  253, 
446. 

Landskron,  10,  555. 

Lang,  William,  479. 

Langballe,  Thomas,  332,  357. 

Lange,  of  Halle,  20. 

Lange,  Conrad,  117,  178,  207. 

Lange,  William,  512,  513. 

Langemack,  Dr.,  68. 

Langerfeld,  Eugene,  497. 

Langguth,  John  Michael,  93,  94,  I16. 

117  (see  John  de  Walteville). 
I.angham,  287. 
Languedoc,  198. 
Lanius,  C.  C,  563. 
Lapland,  62. 

Larisch,  Christian  von,  62. 

Larsen,  Peter,  533. 

Laski,  Count,  118. 

Laucnroth,  Henry,  403. 

Laurens,  Henry,  252. 

Laurvvig,  Count,  50- 

Lusanne,  158,  198,  476. 

Lawatsch,  Anna  Maria,  97. 

Lawatsch,  Anthony,  I39,  145,  1 72. 

Lawmakhannek,  244. 

Layrisch,  Dinah  Raymond  von,  149,  151. 

Layritz,  Paul  Eugene,  93,  155,  200,  202, 

204,  209,  218,  224,  237,  282. 
VEglhe  de  L' Unitk  des  Freres,  Senft, 

Sis- 
Lebanon,  Antigua,  418. 
Lebanon,  Pa.,  140,  452. 
Lees,  John,  351. 
Leger,  96. 
l  eh,  433,  538- 
Lehanna,  502,  504. 
Lehman,  Anthony,  450. 


INDEX. 


617 


Lehman,  Henry,  483. 
Lehmann  (of  Labrador),  224. 
Lehman  (Surinam),  462,  498. 
Leibert,  Eugene,  488,  521,  525. 
Leibert,  Morris  W.,  561,  576. 
Leibfried,  John  C,  447. 
Leinbach,  Parmenio,  524,  563. 
Leipsic,  3,  232. 
Leith,  325,  326. 
Leitmeritz,  555. 
Leitomischel,  10,  12. 
Leiong,  Isaac,  63. 
Lembke,  Francis,  239. 
Lemmertz,  377. 
Lenstadt,  119. 
Leominster,  134,  165. 
Leopold,  Tobias,  51,  52,  55. 
Lepers,  Homes  for,  376,  421,  466,  568, 
583- 

Leslie,  C.  M.  S.,  447. 
Leube,  22,  25. 

Levering,  J.  Mortimer,  483,  525. 
Lewis,  Christina,  537. 
Libbey,  J.  P.,  443. 

Lichtenau,   Greenland,  265,  324,  326, 

411,  489,  528. 
Lichtenau,  Ohio,  246,  260. 
Lichtenberg  Castle,  119. 
Lichtenfels,  264. 

Lichtenthaeler,  Abraham,  417,  458,  498. 
Lieberkiihn,  74,  112,  237. 
Liebisch,  235,  266,  268,  286-288,  310, 
333- 

Lieven,  Prince,  382. 

Light's  Pass  (see  Bethel,  Australia). 

Liley,  James,  351,  352. 

Liliendal,  420. 

Lilliendahl,  Gustavus,  434. 

Limestone  Lake,  561. 

Limmer,  Charles,  342. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  568. 

Lind  (Alaska),  544. 

Lind,  Alfred,  458,  533. 

Lindber,  Captain,  326. 

Linden  Hall  Seminary,  318,  408,  451, 

485,  526. 
Linder,  Benjamin,  1 12. 
Linder,  Charles,  453. 
Lindheim,  1 1 9. 
Lindheim,  Livonia,  513. 
Lindsey  House,  i46,  148,  207,  213,  229. 
Lineback,  Benjamin,  530. 
Linner,  Martin,  55. 
Linner,  Michael,  41. 
Lippe-Schaumberg    (see  Schaumberg- 

Lippe). 
Lippstadt,  II. 
Lischy,  139. 
Lisnamara,  162,  213. 
Lissa,  9,  10,  29,  30. 
"  Lissa  Folios,"  The,  388. 


Lister,  Christian,  224,  268,  331. 

Literary  Work  of  Missionaries,  186,  265, 
266,  269,  321,325,  326,  362,  366,  367, 
375.  378,  432,  465,  469,  490,493.  506, 
515,  532,  538,  568. 

Lititz,  Jamaica,  415. 

Lititz,  Pa.,  l4o,  171,  241,  252,  254,  292, 

318,  401,  408,  452,  519. 
Little  Moorfields,  133. 
Livius,  275. 

Livonia,  6,  74,  92,  118,  148,  285,311, 

342,  348,  382,  383,  438,  440. 
Livonian  Bible,  The,  75. 
Lobositz,  555. 
Locle,  La,  389,  476. 
Lodz,  438. 

Loben,  Captain  von,  72. 
Ldsch,  Herman,  170. 
Losch,  Jacob,  171. 
Loscher,  20,  68,  72. 
Lowe,  155. 

London,  65,  76,  78,  84,  85,  88-91,  95, 
113,  123,  124,  131, 133,  134,  135,  136, 
146,  149,  150,  152,  181,  213,  286,480. 

London  Association  in  Aid  of  Moravian 
Missions,  312-314,  398,  457. 

London,  Financial  conference  in,  150. 

London  Missionary  Society,  The,  574- 

London,  Synodical  conference  in,  97- 
loi. 

London,  Wis.,  523. 
Long  Island,  140. 
Lonsdale,  Lord,  547. 
Lorentz,  John,  206,  209,  218,  235,  341, 
268,  283. 

Loskiel,  George  Henry,  310,  311,  317, 
318,  320. 

Lot,  Use  of  the,  44,  69,  74,  116,  145,  202, 
216,  217,  219,  232,  234,  300,  318,  319, 

335,  336,  344,  352,  395,  436.  472,  5x5 

(see  Errata). 
Lovefeasts,  45. 
Lowskloof,  424. 
Lubenya,  501,  504. 

Luckenbach,  Abraham,  295,  320,  364. 
Luckenbach,  Henry  B.,  402. 
Ludini,  503. 
Ludwig,  25,  31. 

Liidecke,  Anthony  von,  153,  237. 
Lundberg,  Eugene,  429,  460. 
Lundberg,  Eugene  (Labrador),  368,  529. 
Lusatia,  6,  23,  198,  207,  282. 
Luther  of  Dietendorf,  Dr.,  342. 
Lutz,  116. 

Macedonia,  N.  C,  407. 

Mack,  Edwin  J.,  529. 

Mack,  Martin,  106,  142,  143,  268. 

Madras,  178. 

Madsen,  Christian,  483,  523,  526. 
Magadla,  537. 


6i8 


INDEX. 


Magdala,  Moskito,  429,  459,  496,  530. 

Magdalene  of  Baviaanskloof,  277,  281. 

Magdeburg,  198,  205. 

Maguntschi,  140. 

Mahler,  John  Christlieb,  237. 

Mahanatawny,  Pa.,  140. 

Mahoni,  The,  143. 

Makkovik,  566. 

Malabar  mission,  The,  66. 

Mallalieu,  Frank,  351,  355. 

Mallalieu,  William,  sr.,  396,  417,  434, 

441,  442,  444,  471-  478,  479- 
Mallalieu,  William,  jr.,  517,  581. 
Malleville,  von,  268. 
Malmesbury,  442. 

Mamre,  Cape  Colony,  334,  424,  499. 

Mamre  on  the  Bicha,  425. 

Mamre,  Wis.,  482. 

Managua,  Treaty  of,  427,  531. 

Manantao,  563. 

Manasseh,  Wis.,  483. 

Manasseh  (Surinam),  461. 

Manchester,  165,  315. 

Mangek,  61. 

Manocacy,  140. 

Mapasa,  377,  378. 

Mapoon,  564. 

Maple  Grove,  560. 

Maquas,  The,  143. 

Marche,  Christian  Gottfried,  16,  26,  37, 
207. 

Marienborn,  76,  89,  92,  95,  96,  1 19-127, 

192,  202,  206,  229. 
Maripastoon,  461,  462. 
Market  Cross  (Nottingham),  132. 
Marperger,  72. 
Marschall,  Adam  von,  90. 
Marschall,  Frederick  William  von,  156, 

166,  176,  200,  238,  239,  241,  252,  291, 

317- 

Marsveld,  Henry,  276,  279. 
Martin,  Albert,  566. 
Martin,  Augustus,  567. 
Martin,  Frederick,  55,  56,  57,  141,  181, 
414. 

Martin,  George,  564. 

Martin,  Gottlob  Ferdinand,  474,  510. 

Martin,  Traugott,  367. 

Martinez,  564. 

Martinssen,  64. 

Martyn,  John  King,  315,  350,  393. 

Marx,  Benno,  465. 

Marx,  Charles  R.,  538. 

Maryland,  140. 

Matilda,  Moskito  Coast,  429. 

Matlock,  165. 

Matthews,  James,  467. 

Matthiesen,  Christian  William,  340,  380, 

436,  437.  438,  476. 
Matuaris,  The,  461. 
Maurice  River,  140. 


Mausebach,  Lady  von,  22. 
Mayodan,  563. 
Mazwi,  Samuel,  501. 
Mbozi,  574. 
MtClure,  Captain,  413. 
McNair,  Captain,  363,  364. 
Meder,  John,  269. 
Meder  of  Randen,  92. 
Meinert,  Herman,  483. 
Meiningen,  113. 
Meinung,  130. 
Meissel,  468. 

Meissner,  John  Godfrey,  421. 
Mellowes,  W.  H.,  557. 
"Memorial  Days,"  The,  9,  341. 
Mentha,  John,  349. 
Mentz,  Herman  Ludolph,  436. 
Mentzel,  Jonathan,  41 1. 
Menzel,  Henry,  325,  326. 
Merere,  573,  574. 
Merk,  John,  170. 
Mesopotamia,  Jamaica,  184,  370. 
" Messenger;'  The,  444,  517,  5S6. 
"Messenger  of  Peace,''  The,  458,  4S9, 
496. 

"Meta,"  The,  496,  532. 

Meurer,  Philip,  138,  139. 

Meyer,  Adolphus,  145. 

Meyer,  Conrad,  565. 

Meyer,  Henry,  501-504. 

Meyer,  Theodore,  564,  574. 

Meyers,  Hiram,  404,  407. 

Michaelis,  155. 

Michelson,  General,  231. 

Michigan,  262. 

Mickwitz,  75. 

M  ico  Charity,  The,  415, 

Miertsching,  John  Augustus,  413. 

Miertsching,  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Jan- 
August,  Benham,  445. 

Mifflin,  Governor,  294. 

Migrations  from  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  15,  27,  28,  29,  32-35, 
47- 

Migrations  to  America,  172  (see  First  and 

Second  Sea  Congregations). 
Mikak,  223,  224,  225. 
Miksch,  John  M.,  402. 
Miksch,  Michael,  65. 
Mikulastic,  Joseph,  555. 
Milledgeville,  322. 
Miller,  John,  441. 
Milwaukee,  402,  449,  526. 
Mirfield,  131. 
Mishicott,  407. 

Mission  Agency  in  Britain,  480. 
Mission  Board,  The,  235,  455,  458,  465, 

565,  578,    582  (see  Unity's  Elders' 

Conference). 
Mission  Board,  Incorporation  of  the,  551, 

566. 


INDEX. 


619 


Mission  Committee,  The,  219. 

Mission  Debts,  410,  489,  527,  565. 

Mission  Institute  at  Niesky,  440,  473. 

Missionaries,  Homes  for,  489. 

Missionary  Intelligencer,  The,  361. 

Missions,  The  Commencement  of  Mora- 
vian, 49-66. 

Missions  Department  (see  Mission 
Board). 

Missions,  Management  of  the,  472,  473. 
Missions,  Statistics  in  1789,  264,  569. 
Missions,  Visits  of  members  of  the  Board 

to  the  (see  Visits). 
Mitteilungen  aus   der  Brudergetneine, 

554. 

Mizpah,  Jamaica,  458. 
Mizpah,  N.  Carolina,  563. 
Mnari,  537. 

Moench,  Charles  L.,  486. 
Mohawk,  N.Y.,  407. 
Mohicans,  The,  109,  141,  246. 
Moltke,  Count  von,  180. 
Molther,  Philip  Henry,  89,  90,  125. 
Molther,  Mrs.,  82,  83. 
"Momiers,"  The,  342. 
Mongolia,  117,  178,  432,  433. 
Monongahela,  The,  457. 
Montgomery,  J.  J.,  396. 
Montgomery,  James,  39,  395,  397. 
Montgomery,  John,  271,  329. 
Montgomery,  Tobago,  374,  419. 
Montmirail,  95,  96,  158,  389,  476. 
Montour,  Madame,  109. 
Montpellier,  198. 
Montrepos,  284. 
Moore,  Henry,  495. 

Moore,  Thomas,  286,  301,  314,  316,  350, 

568. 
Moorfields,  90. 

Moravia,  6,  n,  15,  27,  34,  45. 
Moravia,  Iowa,  404,  522. 
Moravia,  N.  Carolina,  563. 
Aloravian,  The,  405,  451,  452. 
Moravian  Almanac  and  Year  Book,  The, 
445- 

Moravian  Church  Miscellany,  The,  402. 

Moravian  College  and  Theological  Sem- 
inary, The,  406,  441,  450,  451. 

Moravian  Hill,  536. 

Moravian  Magazine,  The,  395. 

"  Moravian  synodical  conference "  of 
1756,  The,  8. 

Moriah,  Tobago,  420. 

Morris,  Governor,  175. 

Mortimer,  Benjamin,  294. 

Morton,  John  Thomas,  557,  565,  566, 
569,  581,  582. 

Moscow,  208,  211,  212,  310. 

Moser,  Frederick  Charles  von,  206. 

Moskito  Coast,  The,  427-429,  458-460, 
495,  496,  530-532,  567,  568. 


Moskito  Coast,  The  awakening  in  i88i, 

530.  531- 
Mount  Bethel,  360,  399. 
Mount  Carmel,  Kan.,  560. 
Mount  Carmel,  111.,  403. 
Miicke,  John  Gottlieb,  329. 
Muhlenberg,  Henry  Melchior,  108. 
Miiller,  Francis,  514. 
Miiller,  Francis  (Jerusalem),  514. 
Miiller,  Gustavus,  438. 
Muller,  Henry,  510,  513,  553,  584. 
Miiller,  Joseph,  170. 
Miiller,  Joseph  (Historiographer),  515. 
Miiller,  Lewis,  242. 

Muller,  Polycarp,  93,  96,  98,  113,  114, 
121. 

Miiller,  Valentine,  404,  407. 
Miinster,  John,  139. 
Miinster,  Paul,  1 31,  163. 
Mugford,  Francis,  224. 
Mumford,  Harold,  556. 
Muncies,  The,  175,  263. 
Muthmann,  14. 
Mvenyane,  503,  504,  569. 
Myalism,  415-417. 

Nachricht  von  dem  Anfange  der  Bischof- 

lichen  Ordination,  349. 
Nachvak,  454. 

Nain,  Labrador,  224,  267,  327,  411,  454, 
492. 

Nain,  Pa.,  173,  175,  240,  243. 
Nakin,  John,  378,  427,  504,  537. 
Nancawery,  274. 
Napier,  Sir  G.  F.,  424. 
Nassau,  21,  122. 

Nathanael,  negro  of  St.  Thomas,  56. 
Nazareth,  Pa.,  81,  82,  no,  141,  174, 

292,  318,  319,  401,  406,  408,  4S9,  519. 
Nazareth  Hall,  239,  258,  291,  318,  400, 

524- 

Nazareth,  Jamaica,  415. 
Nazmer,  Madame,  18,  20. 
Nazmer,  Marshal  von,  18,  93.- 
Neisser  family,  The,  II,  14,  15,  27. 
Neisser,  Augustine,  15,  26,  33,  37,  41, 
45- 

Neisser,  Augustine  of  Germantown,  107. 

Neisser,  Frederick,  8. 

Neisser,  Frederick  Wenceslaus,  45,  74, 

84,  85,  87,  112,  122,  125,  148,  203, 

204,  206,  218,  237. 
Neisser,  George,  28,  139,  145. 
Neisser,  Jacob,  15,  26,  41. 
Neisser,  Joseph,  139. 
Neisser,  Martha,  15. 
Neshaminy,  140. 
Netawatwes,  245. 
Netzbruch,  The,  236. 
Neu,  Christian,  449. 
Neubauer,  2H. 


620 


INDEX. 


Neudietendorf,  113,  115,  118,  197,  283, 

306. 
Neuhaus,  424. 
Neukirch,  154,  155. 
Neusalz,  115,  117,  159,  205. 
Neusulzfeld,  348. 

Neuwied,  126,  197,  201,  206,  22S,  283, 
284,  311.  386,  475.  476,  550- 

New  Amsterdam,  374. 

New  Bambey  (see  Bambey). 

New  Carmel  (see  Carmel). 

New  Dorp,  483. 

New  Eden  (see  Eden). 

New  England,  140,  241. 

New  Fairfield  (see  Fairfield,  Canada). 

New  Francke,  407. 

New  Gnadenhiitten,  262. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  140,  404,  448. 

New  Hermhut,  Greenland,  59,  61,  264, 
265,  324,  410,  489,  528. 

New  Hermhut,  St.  Thomas,  56,  329. 

New  Hope,  Jamaica,  415,  458. 

New  Philadelphia,  N.  C,  399. 

New  Salem,  262,  321. 

New  York,  83,  141,  143,  145,  240,  343, 

359,  452,  519- 
New  York,  German  Church,  403,  404. 
Newark,  N.J.,  404,  449. 
Newby,  Joseph,  373. 
Newfield,  331,  373. 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  140,  241. 
Ngangelizwe,  501,  504. 
Nicaragua,  427,  459,  531,  532,  567. 
Nice,  John,  449. 
Nicholas  I  of  Russia,  382. 
Nicobar  Islands,  I  So,  274,  275. 
Niebert,  Theodore,  533. 
Niesky,  Silesia,  iii,  117,  156,  201,  235, 

305,  306,  307,  311.  338,  340,  351.  438, 

439.  475- 

Niesky,  Revival  in  the  college  at,  3S6, 
387- 

Nijni  Novgorod,  211. 
Nisbet,  James,  182. 

Nisky,  St.  Thomas,  182,  268,329,415, 

^457.  532.  533- 
Nismes,  198. 

Nitschmann  family,  The,  11. 
Nitschmann,  Anna,  40,  42,  82,  83,  97, 
158,  159. 

Nitschmann,  The  Carpenter  and  Bishop, 
David,  28,  41,  45,  50,  52,  53,  69,  70, 
71,  72,  76,  79,  80,  81,  82,  85,  87,  96, 
105,  110. 

Nitschmann,  David,  Father,  12,  82,  176. 

Nitschmann,  the  Martyr,  David,  28,  34,35. 

Nitschmann,  the  Wagoner,  David,  27. 

Nitschmann,  the  Syndic,  David,  8,  28, 
33.  45.  46,  49,  64.  66,  79,  84,  97,  112, 
114,  136, 156,  202,  203,  204,  213,  237, 
240. 


Nitschmann,  the  Wheelwrright,  David,  33. 

Nitschmann,  George,  37. 

Nitschmann,  John,  sr.,  45,  49,  74,  93, 

97.  98,  113,  "4,  149.  157.  164,  168, 

200. 

Nitschmann,  John,  jr.,  62,  156,  200,  237. 
Nitschnann,  John  Martin,  381,  385,  434, 

436,  437- 
Nitschmann,  Judith,  207. 
Nitschmann,  Melchior,  10,  37,  39,  41, 

.45- 

Nitschmann,  Rosina,  97. 
Noah,  Indian,  365. 
Noailles,  Cardinal,  21,  32. 
Noble,  83. 
Nomansland,  502. 
Norden,  549. 
Nordenskjold,  527. 

Normal  Schools,  415,  421,  423,  426,  456, 
457.  464,  465,  494.  496,  497.  498,  528, 
534,  536. 

Normal  School  at  Gnadau,  476. 

Normal  School  at  Niesky,  Silesia,  475. 

North  Carolina,  151,  170,  171,  241,  242, 
253,  291,  296,  317-319,  322,  360,  361- 
363,  399-401,  404,  405,  407,  446,  450, 
524,  560,  562-563. 

North  English,  Iowa,  483. 

North  Salem  (Oakland),  Wis.,  448,  523. 

Northampton,  249. 

Northumberland  Inlet,  412. 

Northwestern  Fur  Co.,  The,  292. 

Norway,  198. 

Nottingham,  132.  165. 

"Azotes  on  the  Origin  and  Episcopate  of 
the  Bohemian   Brethren,"  Benham, 

445- 
Nullatatok  454. 
Nxotschane,  537. 
Nyasa,  563,  564,  570-575- 
Nyberg,  Lawrence,  161. 

O'Neil,  Charles,  167,  250. 

Oaklan  I,  Missouri,  523. 

Oath  of  Fealty,  Dispensation  from  the, 

136. 
Obeahism,  416. 

Ockbrook,  132,  163,  165,  289,  344,  351, 

396,  480. 
Ockershausen,  90,  131,  165. 
OdeslolT,  92. 

Oeconomats  Conferenz,  The,  241. 
Oehler,  Goitlieb  F.,  451. 
Oerter,  Edmund  A  ,  485,  561,  562. 
Oettinger,  67,  116. 
Ogeechee,  79. 

Oglethorpe,  78,  79,  80,  136. 
Ohiieberg,  182. 

Okak,  225,  226,  266,  327,  367,  411,454, 
492. 

Okely  family,  The,  91. 


INDEX. 


621 


Okely,  Francis,  130,  132,  163,  165,  248, 

249,  286. 
Oltely,  John  138,  139. 
Okely,  William,  434,  443. 
Oldham,  35 1 . 
Oldman's  Creek,  140,  318. 
Oley,  83,  106,  109.  no,  140. 
"Oliver;'  The,  368. 
Olney,  111.,  403,  407,  523. 
Onondaga,  143,  169,  243. 
Ochgelo  gy,  362-363. 
Oppelt,  Nicholas,  426. 
Oppelt,  Sebastian,  295,  320. 
Orange,  Prince  of,  21. 
"Order  of  the  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed," 

The,  20,  24,  76. 
Ordination,  471. 
OrlofT,  Count,  209. 
Orphanage  at  Okak,  454. 
Orphanage  at  Ramahyuk,  505. 
Orphanage  at  Rothwasser,  555. 
Osborne,  Kan.,  486,  526. 
Ostroem,  Andrew,  85,  91. 
Oxford,  84,  88,  95. 
Oxley,  William,  222. 

Pachgatgoch,  142,  243. 

Packanghill,  295. 

Padel,  Otto,  504,  565,  569,  583. 

Pagell,  Edward,  433,  468-470,  505.  SjS. 

Pakhanke,  245. 

Pakota,  George,  12. 

Paksaut,  411. 

Palliser,  Sir  Hugh,  222. 

Palmetto  Point,  270. 

Palmyra,  N.J  ,  404,  407,  449. 

Palucci,  Governor,  342. 

Papuans,  The,  429-432. 

Papunhank,  175,  176,  243,  244. 

Paramaribo,  186,  272,  274,  332,  333, 
374,  375,  420,  535,  536. 

Paravicini,  65. 

Parker,  Captain,  412. 

ParKament  in  1 749,  Act  of,  and  negoti- 
ations with,  135-137. 

Parminter,  131,  163. 

Parsons,  Jonathan,  140. 

Passavant,  Rudolph,  420. 

Pastoral  Conferences  at  Herrnhut,  155. 

Pastorius,  I02. 

Patna,  275. 

Paul,  negro  of  St.  Thomas,  56. 

Paulowitzka,  205. 

Paulu,  569. 

Pawlin's  Kill,  140. 

Paxnous,  174. 

Payne,  Jasper,  140,  145. 

Peacock,  Elijah,  350. 

Pearl  Key  lagoon,  429. 

Pechatschek,  Jacob,  10. 

Pechatschek,  John,  10. 


Pedelavium,  The,  44,  337. 
Peep  'o  Day  Boys,  The,  289. 
Peilau,  112,  113,  117. 
Peistel,  200. 
Pella.  499. 

Pemaholend,  Jacob,  295. 
Pemsel,  J.  F.,  480. 
Pendine,  316,  443. 
Penn,  John,  245. 
Penn,  Thomas,  80,  1 23. 
Penn,  William,  102. 
Penn's  Neck,  140. 

Pennsylvania,  78,  80-83,  93>  94'  9^,  102- 
110,  138  143,  168-177,  238-246,  251- 
259,  291-294,  317-319,  357-361,  399- 
409,  446-452,  482-488,  519-526,  561, 

562. 

Pennsylvania,  Religious  condition  of,  in 
1740,  103. 

'■Pennsylvania  Synods  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  God  in  the  Spirit,"  The,  106, 
107,  no,  141,  168. 

Pepper,  Nathanael,  466,  467. 

Periodical  Accounts  relating  to  Moravian 
Missions,  235,  312,  445. 

Perkin,  Geo.  W.,  406. 

Perry,  Caj.tain,  413. 

Persia,  178. 

Pertcnhall,  315,  350. 

Perth  Amboy,  240. 

Pesarorius,  Paul,  342. 

Peseux,  438,  476. 

Peter,  David,  294. 

Peter,  F.  D.,  439. 

Peter,  Simon,  317. 

Peterleitner,  Michael,  376. 

Peters,  Daniel,  223. 

Petersen,  Karsten,  322. 

Petquotling,  The,  262,  320,  321. 

Petsch,  151. 

Petzold,  Gottlieb,  138,  139,  172. 

Peyster,  Major  de,  261,  262. 

Pfaff,  Chancellor,  5,  68. 

Pfeiffer,  Ezekiel,  426. 

Pfeiffer,  Henry  Gottlieb,  371,  372,  417, 

427,  429 
Pfeil  Von,  78. 
Pfohl,  Charles,  403. 

Philadelphia,  81,  82,  104-IC9,  140,  240, 
242,  253,  294,  402,  403,  404,  4<-'5,  406. 

Philadelphia,  First  church,  108,  405,  449. 

Philadelphia,  Second  church,  449,  450, 
486,  519. 

Philadelphia,  Third  church,  449. 

Philadelphia,  Fourth  church,  449,  482. 

Philadelphia,  Fifth  church,  486. 

Philadelphia,  "Holy  Trinity,"  519,  520. 

Phillips,  William,  397,  442. 

Philip  (Hottentot),  334. 

Piesch,  George,  62,  131. 

Piesch,  Anna  Joanna,  239. 


622 


INDEX. 


Piesch,  Thomas,  1 1. 

Pietists,  The,  3,  4,  5,  6,  45,  75,  115,  197. 
Pilder,  George,  179. 
Pilgergemeine,  The,  73,  74,  148. 
Pilgerhatis,  The,  73. 
Pilgerhut,  186,  272. 
Pilgerruh,  92. 

Pilgerruh  on  the  Cuyahoga,  262. 

Pilgrim,  Al  -xander,  495,  533. 

Pima,  2^,  31. 

Pisani,  280. 

Pittsburgh,  260. 

Pleasant  Fork,  563. 

Pless,  Von,  45,  55. 

Pletz,  Paulina,  514. 

Plitt,  Herman,  438,  440,  514. 

Plitt,  Jacob,  342. 

Plitt,  John,  338,  340,  345,  346,  380,  388, 
439- 

Pliitschau,  5,  63. 
Plymouth,  316. 

Pohlman,  Charles  Augustus,  355,  393. 

Poland,  9,  lo,  348,  389,  438. 

Polish  branch  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 

The,  9.  384. 
Polish  Prussia,  10. 
Pollheim,  Count,  17,  21,  23. 
Pomeroy,  Benjamin,  140. 
Pommerania,  198. 
Pontiac's  Conspiracy,  239. 
Poo,  469,  470,  569. 
Popp,  Martin  William,  366,  367. 
Port  Elizabeth,  568. 
Port  of  Spain,  563. 
Port  Washington,  523. 
Posaunenberg,  56,  57. 
Posen,  384,  437. 

Post,  Frederick,    138,    143,  173,  175, 

246. 
Potatik,  142. 
Potrero,  564. 
Pott,  William,  104. 
Pottenstein,  554,  555. 
Potter,  Archbishop,  76,  77,  85. 
Powell,  Joseph,  139,  143. 
Praeger,  John,  404,  448. 
Praetorius,  John,  230. 
Prague,  439,  555. 
Prangins,  476. 
Presqu'  Isle,  294. 
Prince,  Isaac,  419,  450,  457. 
Princess  Royal  Islands,  The,  413. 
Priors  Marston,  315. 
Procknow,  433. 
Proctor,  General,  321. 
Promnitz,  Balthasar  von,  112,  113,  114, 

117. 

Promnitz  of  Sorau,  Count,  32,  118. 
Protten,  Christian  Jacob,  64,  65. 
Providence,  R.  I.,  448. 
Province  Island,  240. 


Provincial  Conferences,  Britain,  335,  336, 

394,  395- 

Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  American, 
North,  402,  404,  405,  446,  485,  488, 
521,  525,  526,  530,  561,  562. 

Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  American, 
South,  401,  404,  405,  446,  524,  563. 

Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  British, 
441,  442,  444  478,  480,  481,  516,  517, 
518,  556. 

Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  German, 
552,  553- 

Provi:ici;il  Elders'  Conference,  German, 

incorporated,  551. 
"  Provincial  Helpers,"  218. 
Provincial  Helpers,  America,  317,  357» 

381,  400. 

Provincial  Helpers,  Britain,  286,  314, 

318,  350,  351.  352.  35S.  393.  396,441. 
Provincial  Helpers'  Conference,  Jamaica, 
417. 

Provincial  Independence,  387,  390-392. 
Provincial  Revenue,  521,  522. 
Prussia,  196. 

Pseudo  Pietism,  116,  I17. 
Publication  house,  155,  IS^,  305- 
Publication  house,  American,  405,  451, 

520,  521. 
Pudsey,  165,  315. 
Pugatcheff,  230,  231. 
Pugh,  161,  162. 
Pulkrabek,  John  Paul,  533. 
Purser,  J.  T.,  442. 
Purysburg,  80. 
Putnam,  General,  293. 
Pyrlaeus,  Christopher,  107,  143. 

Quamwatla,  495. 

Quandt,  John  Christian,  218,  229,  235, 

285,  341. 
Quandt  of  Urbs,  92. 
Queensland,  539,  558,  563,  561. 
Quincy,  111.,  402. 
Quitopehilla,  140. 
Quitt,  David,  33,  34. 
Quitt,  Hans,  27. 
Quitt,  Julia,  40. 

Rabaud,  Paul,  198. 

Rabel,  Christian  Frederick,  211. 

Racoon,  140. 

Raisin,  Massacre  on  the,  322. 

Ralfs,  186. 

Ramas,  The,  428. 

Ramah,  Iowa,  522. 

Ramah,  Labrador,  490,  491,  5^^- 

Rama,  Moskito,  429,  458,  459,  496. 

Ramahyuk,  467,  468,  505. 

Ramftler,  Christian  Frederick,  338,  35S. 

"  Ramona  Mission,"  The,  564. 

Ramsch,  John  Gottlieb,  330. 


INDEX. 


623 


Randen,  92. 

Ranzau,  Eric  von,  207,  276. 
Rasmus,  Jens,  58. 
Ratio  Disciplina,  The,  5,  38,  445. 
Ran,  Leonard,  404,  407,  448. 
Rau,  Simon,  402. 

Rauch,  Christian  Henry,  105,  109,  139, 

141,  184 
Rauch,  John  F.,  401. 
Rauch,  William,  452. 
Rechler,  Theodore,  469. 
Redslob,  Frederick  Adolphus,  506,  515, 

538. 

Reed,  George  K.,  447. 

Reformation  and  Anti- Reformation  in 

Bohemia,  The,  Benham,  445. 
Regennas,  Edward  J.,  482,  486. 
Regnier,  Dr.  Frederick,  186. 
Reichel,  270. 

Reichel,  Charles  Frederick,  207. 
Reichel,  Charles  Frederick,  of  England, 
31S,  351- 

Reichel,  Charles  Gotthold,  258,  292,  301, 
317.  318- 

Reichel,  Charles  Rudolph,  154,  155. 
Reichel,  Ernest  Frederick,  385,  388,  389, 

434,  436,  440,  453.  471.  474,  477- 
Reichel,  Eugene  F.,  477,  478,  510,  511, 

512,513.535- 
Reichel,  Fiederick  Benjamin,  349. 
Reichel,  Gustavus  Theodore,  436,  474, 

477.  510.  511- 
Reichel,  Henry  Levin,  391,  434,  474, 

476,  508.  510,  511. 
Reichel,  Jacob  Levin,  347,  385. 
Reichel,  John  Frederick,  155,  218,  227, 

234,  235,  254,  255,  275,  276,  282,  300, 

310. 

Reichel,  Levin  Theodore,  404,  405,  434, 
436,  453,  471,  474,  476,  480,  492. 

Reichel,  Paul,  552,  553,  583. 

Reichel,  Samuel  Christlieb,  341,  344, 
380,  389- 

Reichel,  Samuel  Rudolph,  355,  396,441, 
442. 

Reicliel,  Theophilus,  434,  474,  510,  511. 
Reichel,  Theophilus  (Bohemia),  555,  583. 
Reichel,  William  C,  447,  450,  451. 
Reichenau,  555. 
Reichenberg,  555. 
Reinbeck,  75. 
Reinke,  Abraham,  139. 
Reinke,  Amadeus  A.,  427,  452,  460,  526, 
563- 

Reinke,  Edwin  E.,  498,  533. 
Reinke,  Samuel,  405,  485. 
Reitapura,  458. 
Reliance,  534. 
Renkewitz,  417. 
Resolute,  The,  413. 

Retrocession  of  the  Tuscarawas  Tract,36i . 


Reuss  family.  The,  32. 

Reuss,  Erdmuth  Dorothy,  Countess  (see 

Zinzendorf,  Erdmuth  Dorothy  von). 
Reuss,  Count  Henry  the  24th,  21,  22. 
Reuss,  Count  Henry  the  28th,  150,  155, 

200,  202-204,  218,  227,  235,  249,  250, 

283. 

Reuss,  Count  Henry  the  29th,  122,  200. 
Reuss,  Count  Henry  the  55th,  380. 
Reuss  of  Kostritz,  Count,  15. 
Reuss-Stohnsdorf,  Prince,  385. 
Reusswig,  George  Henry,  449,  486,  487, 

522,  526,  563. 
Reutz,  139,  i4o. 
Reval,  46,  65,  75. 
Reventlow,  Countess,  328. 
Revivals,  28,  36-39,  40,  131,  134,  139- 

140,  155,  236,  241,  264,  327,  365,  378, 

385.  424.  441.  457,  530,  531.  562. 
Rice,  Jacob,  407. 
Rice,  Joseph  A.,  486,  526,  561. 
Rice,  Owen,  91,  139. 
Rice,  William  Henry,  448,  452,  488. 
Richard,  Marc,  563,  567. 
Richard,  Marc  Theophil,  476,  511,  549, 

553- 

Richard,  Theophil  of  Nyasa,  564,  573, 
574- 

Richland,  Iowa,  404. 
Richter,  Abraham  Ehrenfried,  65,  68, 
87. 

Richter,  Alwin,  502. 
Richter,  Christian  Frederick,  373. 
Richter,  Herman,  311,  339,  341. 
Ricksecker,  Peter,  373,  419. 
Riedel,  Frederick,  27. 
Riederer,  21. 

Riegelmann,  297,  298,  300. 
Riga,  46,  75,  118. 

Rights,  C.  Lewis,  407,  446,  524,  563. 
Rights,  T.  M.,  530. 
Rigolette,  413,  566. 
Rinderknecht,  529. 
Risely,  443. 

Risler,  Jeremiah,  235,  282,  299,  310. 
Ritter,  Francis,  lo4. 
Rittmansberger,  Andrew,  270. 
Riverside,  N.J.,  449,  560. 
Rixdorf,  8,  9,  94,  205,  310,  549. 
Robben  Island,  466. 
Robbins,  William,  481,  517,  518. 
Rock,  116. 

Romer,  John  Daniel,  344,  347. 
Roepper,  William  Theodore,  408. 
Rogers  family.  The,  91. 
Rogers,  Jacob,  132. 
Rogers,  John,  418,  442,  443. 
Rogers,  Samuel,  351. 
Rohleder,  Martin,  40,  41. 
Roloff,  75. 

Romig,  Augustus  B.,  533. 


624 


INDEX. 


Romig,  Benjamin,  511,  512,  533,  565, 

582,  583. 
Romig,  Herman,  566. 
Romig,  W.  H.,  523. 
Rominger,  Henry  S,,  488. 
Rominger,  Samuel,  358. 
Rondthaler,  Albert,  449. 
Rondlhaler,  Ambrose,  450. 
Rondthaler,  Edward,  sr.,  40&,  521. 
Rondtha'er,  Emmanuel,  357,  360. 
Rondthaler,  Edward  (Bishop),  452,  524, 

563,  584- 
Ronneburg,  The,  73,  74,  92,  119. 
Ronner,  Joseph  Reinhard,  138. 
Ronner,  Joseph  Reinhold,  387,  390,  439. 
Rose,  440. 

Rose,  Christian  Lewis,  268,  281. 

Rose,  Peter,  79. 

Roseen,  139. 

Rosendorf,  438,  473. 

Roslin,  Ulric,  285. 

Ross,  John,  364. 

Rossnitz,  112,  205. 

Roth,  John,  240,  244,  246. 

Rothe,  John  Andrew,  14,  15,  22,  23,  24, 

29.  3'.  35.  36-38,  40.  68,  93. 
Rothe,  Provincial  Helper,  276. 
Rothwasser,  10,  439,  473,  554,  555. 
Rotterdam,  84. 

Rudolph,  Christian  David,  325. 
Ruckblick  uber  die  Ilundert  und  futif- 

zigjahrige  Missionsarbcit  der  Bruder- 

gemeine,  Reichel,  512. 
Ruede,  Miss,  364. 
Riidiger's,  448. 
RiilTer,  John,  178. 
Rumswinkel,  Van,  63. 
Rungwe,  564,  570,  573,  574. 
Rural  Mission,  The,  557. 
Russia,  9,  117,  208-212,  512-513  (see 

Livonia,  Sarepta,  Poland,   and  Vol- 

hynia). 
Rust-en-Vrede,  535. 
Rust-en-Werk,  420. 
"  Rusticus,"  377. 
Rutenganio,  565,  574. 
Ryttel,  Pastor,  579. 

Saalfeld,  Christian  Ernest  von,  45. 

Sablat,  39. 

Saeglek,  412,  454. 

Salem,  England,  351. 

Salem,  Jamaica,  415,  458. 

Salem,  North  Carolina,  241,  296,  317- 

319,  358,  360,  363,  400,  401,  524,  561, 

562,  563- 

Salem  Female  Academy,  318,  450,  524, 
563. 

Salem,  Ohio,  246,  260,  262,  293,  322. 
Salem,  Surinam,  420,  535. 
Salisbury,  Pa.,  140. 


Salzburger,  The,  65. 
Samoyedes,  The,  65. 
Sandgate,  359. 
Sandili,  425,  463. 
Sandusky,  261,  321. 
Sandy  Bay,  Ireland,  394. 
Sandy  Bay,  Nicaragua,  531. 
Saratov,  2H. 

Sarepta,  211,  212,  285,  310,  343,  432, 

477,  513,  549- 
Sarpa,  The,  211,  212. 
Sassadius,  14. 
Savannah,  76,  79-81,  85. 
Saxony,  6,  196,  199  (see  Herrnhut  and 

Kleinwelke). 
Saxony,  Liberty  of  operations  granted  in, 

124. 

Scandrett,  John  William,  479. 
Schaaf,  Christian  Frederick,  357. 
Schachmann,  Charles  von,  136,  151, 153. 
Schade,  John  Caspar,  3. 
Schadura,  512,  560. 

Schaeffer,  Melchior,  14,  15,  22,  24,  25, 
31- 

Scharf,  Daniel,  553. 

Scharf,  John  Samuel,  330. 

Scharf,  Sister,  369. 

Schaffner,  J.  Frank,  521. 

Schallman,  John,  10. 

Schaukirch,  269,  286. 

Schaumberg-Lippe,  Countess,  32,  45,  84. 

Schebosch,  143. 

Schechschiquanink,  244. 

Scheh,  569. 

Schellinger,  Jacob,  95,  120,  122,  147, 

148,  151. 
Schill,  Godfrey,  432. 
Schimmelmann,  328. 
Schippack,  80,  104. 
Schirmer,  Carl,  331. 
Schlegel,  Frederick,  271. 
Schleiermacher,  341,  347. 
Schleswig,  230,  285. 
Schlicht,  Ernest  Lewis,  90,  1 19,  130, 

132,  134.  163,  164. 
Schlimnian,  12. 

Schmick,  John  Jacob,  173,  240,  2  )3,  244. 
Schmidt,  Anthony,  143. 
Schmidt,  Eugene,  554,  555-  S83- 
Schmidt,  George,  37,  45,  63,  64,  234, 

237,  276,  277. 
Schmidt,  Isaac,  432. 
Schmidt,  John  Adam,  119. 
Schmidt,  John  Henry,  334,  375. 
Schmidt,  Jost,  104. 
Schmidt,  Rasmus,  421. 
Schmidt,  Rudolph,  569. 
Schnall,  John,  295,  322,  364. 
Schneider  family,  The,  11. 
Schneider,  Daniel,  62,  65,  367. 
Schneider,  David,  27,  33. 


INDEX. 


625 


Schneider,  George,  of  Labrador,  367. 
Schneider,  Gottlieb  Martin,  339,  344,  389. 
Schneider,  Hermann,  278,  583. 
Schneider,  Martin,  11,  207. 
Schneider,  Martin,   Indian  missionary, 
296. 

Schneider,  Paul,  139. 
Schneider,  Samuel,  ii. 
Schnell,  Leonard,  138,  139,  140. 
Schneller,  270. 

Schober,  Frederick  William,  282. 
Shcechert,  Herman,  547. 
Schdnau,  11. 

Schonberg-Lichtenslein,  Count,  32. 

Schonbrunn,  Ohio,  246,  262,  293. 

Schonbrunn,  Russia,  230. 

Schonburg-Waldenberg,  Prince,  427. 

Schoneck,  292. 

Schoharie,  142. 

Schondorf,  Christopher,  388. 

Schools,  Church,  40,  104,  132,  133,  138, 
144,  155,  156,  i6;„  230,  235,  236,  237, 
284,  289,  291,  315,  318,  337,  381,  382, 
447,  450,  451,  475,  476,  48s,  496,  513. 
516,  519,  524,  526,  562,  563. 

School  of  Infancy  and  Life  of  Bishop 
Comenius,  Benham,  445. 

Schordan,  Charles  Frederick,  340,  389, 
436,  477- 

Schott,  411. 

Schrattenbach,  Cardinal  von,  35. 
Schrattenbach,  Count  Otto  von,  35. 
Schrautenbach,  Von,  I,  119,  120,  136, 
152. 

Schreiber  Collegium,  The,  74, 
Schropp,  Abraham  S.,  521. 
Schropp,  Matthevir,  145. 
Schryver,  Admiral,  63,  65. 
Schiitz,  Theodore,  389,  476. 
Schulius,  George,  80,  87. 
Schultze,  131. 

Schultze,  William,  549,  553. 
Schultze,  Augustus,  521,  526,  547,  561. 
Schulze,  Augustine,  7,  8. 
Schumann,  Christian  Lewis,  275. 
Schumann,  Theophilus   Solomon,  1 19, 

159,  186,  188. 
Schwalber,  John  Martin,  276. 
Schwarz,  274. 

Schwarze,  William  N.,  561. 
Schwedler,  John  Christopher,  14,  22,  29, 
30. 

Schweinitz  family,  The  von,  15,  22. 
Schweinitz,  Baron  von,  of  Friedersdorf, 
29. 

Schweinitz,  Captain  von,  of  Leube,  25, 
29-  .  . 

Schweinitz,  Christian  Frederick  von,  439. 
Schweinitz,  Edmund  Alexander  de,  405, 

406,  434,  447,  451,  452,  486,  488,  508, 

519-521,  524,  525,  543. 

41 


Schweinitz,  Emil  A.  de,  404,  434,  446, 

471,  508,  524. 
Schweinitz,  Frederick  von,  291,  296. 
Schweinitz,  Hans  Christian  Alexander 

von,  241,  251,  256,  258,  283,  291,  292, 

301,  303- 

Schweinitz,  Louis  David  de,  344,  357" 
36«. 

Schweinitz,  Paul  de,  562. 
Schweinitz,  Robert  de,  446,  450,  485, 
525- 

Schwenkfeld,  Caspar,  37. 
Schwenkfelder,  The,  37,  78. 
Schwinn,  Daniel,  276,  278. 
Scotland,  215,  249,  288. 
Scott,  General,  364. 

"  Scripture-readers,"  353  (see  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Ireland). 

"  Second  Sea  Congregation,"  The,  1 1 7. 

Se.  relarius  Unitatis  Fratrum  in  Anglia, 
286,  380,  444. 

Secretary  of  Missions  in  London,  The, 

375,  396,  444.  445.  517- 
Secretary  of  Publications,  The,  452,  485, 

520,  522. 
Sehlen,  10,  11,  14,  15,  32. 
Seidel,  Charles  Frederick,  357,  401,  404, 

406,  451. 
Seidel,  Frederick,  79. 
Seidel,  Nathanael,  139,  140,  145,  172, 

176,  182,  186,  200,  238,  252,  256. 
Seidlitz,  Charles  Sigismund  von,  282. 
Seidlitz,  Ernest  Julius  von,  II2,  152, 153, 

200,  204. 

Seifferth,  Anthony,  79,  80,  1 10,  139,  214, 
284. 

Seifferth,  Benjamin,  393,  394,  396,  418, 

4!3,  444,  445,  473,  478,  480. 
Seifferth,  Vincent,  486. 
Seiler,  Jacob,  417. 
Seilendorf,  II. 
Senecas,  The,  294. 
Senft,  Ernest  Arved,  515,  584, 
Senftleben,  11,  13. 
Senior  Civilis,  122,  301,  344. 
Senseman,  Edwin  T.,  434,  451. 
Senseman,  Gottlob,  175,  243,  263,  295. 
Senseman,  Joachim,  142. 
Senthea  Creek,  273. 

Sentimentalism,  Religious,  I16,  II7,  124, 
125. 

Serampore,  275. 
Serra,  Abbe  de,  322. 
Serra,  Jacob  Gomez,  150. 
"  Settlement  congregation,"  A,  219,  220. 
Seven  Years'  War,  The,  158,  159,  201, 
208. 

Seward,  William,  81. 
Shamokin,  109,  143,  173. 
Sharon,  Barbados,  330,  370. 
Sharon,  Ohio,  318. 


626 


INDEX. 


Sharon  on  the  Saramacca,  l86,  1 88,  272. 
Shaw,  Joseph,  138,  139. 
Shawe,  Edward,  558,  559. 
Shawe,  Frederick,  \V.,  486. 
Shawe,  Henry  Edwards,  442,  444,  445, 
517- 

Shawe,  Jackson,  516. 
Shawnese,  The,  174,  322. 
Shechem,  425. 

Shekomeko,  109,  l4l,  142,  246. 
Sheffield,  165. 
Sherlock,  Bishop,  137,  165. 
Shiep,  John  Louis,  389. 
Shikeliray,  143. 

Shiloh,  Cape  Colony,  377,  423,425,426, 

463-465,  505>  537- 
Shiloh,  Wis.,  523. 

"  Ship  Committee,"  The,  223,  286,  287. 
Short  History  of  the  Moravian  Churchy 

A,  Hutton,  559. 
Shufflebotham,  Ralph,  316. 
Shultz,  Charles  Bagge,  450,  451. 
Shultz,  Henry  A.,  399,  401,  402,  404, 

405,  406,  447,  448,  524. 
Shultz,  Theodore,  357,  400. 
Sibeth,  Dr.,  68. 
Sieborger,  William,  532,  568. 
Siedler,  Dr.,  384,  437. 
Siewers,  Jacob  P.,  404. 
Siewers,  Dr.  N.  S.,  563. 
"Sifting,  The  Tims  of,"  115-117,  124- 

127, 
Siksigak,  327. 

Silesia,  6,  lu,  112,  113,  114,  152,  196, 

197,  204,  231,  282. 
Silkhope,  242. 
Sister  Bay,  560. 
Sitkovius,  70,  76,  77. 
"Six  Nations,"  The  (see  Iroquois). 
Skalic,  II. 
SUinner,  227. 
Slater,  J.,  442. 
Slave  code,  A,  55. 

Slavery,  Abolition  of,  328,  371,  372,  414, 

423,  462,  497. 
"  Slaves  of  Virtue,"  The,  20. 
Slotta,  Charles  Adolphus,  492. 
Smidt,  Erik,  52. 
Smith,  161. 
Smith,  Austin,  396. 
Smith,  Frederick,  496,  531. 
Smith,  John,  352,  434. 
Smith,  Renatus,  362. 
Smith  House,  131. 
Smyth,  Callender,  533. 
Snyklip,  499. 

Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel, 
The,  90,  213,  222,  223,  286,  287,  325, 
326,  375,  453,  480,  528,  529. 

Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel, 
N.  Carolina,  361. 


Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian 

Knowledge  amongst  the  Negroes  of 

Surinam,  The,  374. 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  Christian 

Knowledge,  The,  45,  84. 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  The, 

258,  259,  293,  344,  361,  530,  543. 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 

in  Foreign  Parts,  The,  87. 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 

in  Ireland,  The,  353,  395,  481. 
Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners, 

The,  86. 
Sodnom  Stobkyes,  469. 
Sodpa  Gjalzan  (Natlianael),  505,  538. 
Soelle,  George,  139,  241. 
Sollengebel,  Governor,  64. 
Sorensen,  John,  265,  266,  367. 
Sohlenthal,  Von,  20. 
SomeTset,  129. 
Somerset,  Lord,  377. 
Somnielsdyk,  274,  333. 
Sonderiiiann,  457. 
Sorau  39,  45. 

South  Africa,  East,  499-504. 

South  Africa,  West,  498,  499. 

South  Africa,  Division  of  the  field,  473. 

South  Bethlehem,  449. 

South  Carolina,  80. 

Souiherii  District,  or  Province,  The  (see 
North  Carolina). 

Spangenberg,  Augustus  Gottlieb,  45,  46, 
55,  67, 69  78,  79, 80,  84,  S9-91, 97, 104, 
109,  117,  125, 128,  129,  I  ^i,  133,  140, 
143,  144,  148,  156,  169-172,  176,  182, 
194,  200-203,  205,  216,  217,  218,  227, 
232,  233.  234,  235,  237,  254,  267, 
298. 

Sp.mpenberg,  George  von,  206. 

Spaugh,  Joseph,  368. 

Spenre,  James,  417. 

Spence,  Louis  H.,  443. 

Spcner  Philip  Jacob,  2,  3,  17,  18. 

Spiegler,  Francis,  555. 

Spieseke,  William,  431,  432,  466,  467. 

Spring  Creek,  561. 

Spring  Grove,  Mo.,  560. 

Spr  nupl.ice,  Georgia,  296,  322,  362-364, 

529.  530. 
St.  Augustine,  501. 

St.  Croix,  55,  57,  182,  268,  329,  370, 

414,  418,  457. 
St.  George,  The  Cloister  of,  69 
St.  Hyppolyte,  475. 

St.  John,  Island  of,  54,  58,  182,  268,  329, 

370,  414.  457- 
St.  John's,  Antigua,  184,  415,  418. 
St.  Kitts,  270,  271,  329,  331,  418,  419. 
St.  Louis.  365. 
St.  Madeleine,  563. 
St.  Petersburg,  65,  117,  208-211,  549. 


INBEX. 


627 


St.  Thomas,  52  58,  80,  94,  95,  145,  182, 
328,  329,  330,  370,  414,  415,  455, 
456,  457,  494- 

St.  Thomas,  Town  of,  415.  534. 

Stach  family,  The,  II. 

Stach,  Anna,  61. 

Stach,  Christian,  58,  60. 

Stach,  Matthew,  52,  58,  60,  61,  i8l, 
264. 

Stach,  Rosina,  61,  and  note. 
Stahelin,  Frederick,  568. 
Stahlniann,  George,  180. 
St-imbe,  375. 

Stanton  Harcomt,  88,  133. 
Staten  Island,  140,  292. 
Statistics  of  the  British  Province,  1824  and 
1834,  357- 

Statistics  of  the  Missions  at  the  close  of 

one  hundred  years,  378. 
Statistics  of  the  Missions  in  1 899,  569. 
Statistics  of  the  Moravian   Church  in 

1899,  585- 

Statistics  at  the  Synod  of  Hirschberg, 

1743,  115- 
Steinberg,  Herman  Rudolph,  512. 
Steiner,  Abraham,  296,  322. 
Steinern  Seidlitz,  12. 
Steinfort,  Charles,  4S6. 
Steinhauer,  Henry,  286,  287,  289,  314. 
Steinholer,  69,  122,  125. 
Steinmetz,  14,  27. 
Stellenbosch,  279. 
Stengel,  William,  482. 
Stengord,  John,  340. 
Stern,  Rudolph.  565. 
Sternberg,  Martin  Godfrey,  235,  2S3. 
Stettin,  55. 
Stiefel,  George.  104. 
Stillman.  Edward,  289. 
Stobwasser,  Louis,  370. 
Stockholm,  46,  62,  285. 
St  'ckholm,  Archbishop  of,  97. 
Stockport,  165. 
Stokwe,  504. 
Stoll,  Joachim,  2. 
Stoll,  Rudolph,  273. 
Stollberg-Weinigrode,  72. 
Stompjes,  Wilhelmma,  377,  378. 
Stonehouse,  George,  90. 
Stonehouse,  Mary  (see  Crispe). 
Stow,  350. 
Stralsund,  65,  68. 
Stragsburg,  475. 
Strohmeier,  W.,  523. 
Strucnsee,  230,  232. 
Striimpfler,  301. 
Sturgeon  Bay,  407,  483. 
Sturmann,  368. 
Siiss,  John  Luke,  39. 
Suhl,  Daniel,  464. 
Sumoos,  The,  428. 


Surinam,  63,  93,  14I,  144,  151,  184-188, 
272-274,  331-333,  374.  420-423,  460- 
463,  496-498,  535-536,  568,  581. 

"  Sustentation  Diacony,"  The  American, 
242,  402. 

"Sustentation  Fund,"  The,  408,  409, 

519-522,  562. 
Suter  of  Camb,  92. 
Sutcliffe,  Charles  E.,  397,  443,  444. 
Sutclilie,  John,  353. 
Sweden,  62,  92,  97,  198. 
Swindon,  129,  557. 

Switzerland,  6,  46,  95,  96,  158,  159,  342, 

348,  389.  438,  476. 
Sydenham,  Lord,  136. 
Syms,  130,  161,  162,  163. 
Syndics,  The  Board  of,  203,  204. 
Synodical  conference  of  London,  The, 

97101. 

Synodical  conference  of  Moravians  and 

Bohemians,  157. 
Synods,  American  provincial,  169,  216, 

241,  390,  401,  402,  405-406,  407,  446, 

447.  448,  482,  484,  4S5,  522,  526. 
Synods,  British  provincial,  163,  164,  213, 

397,  441.  443.  445.  478.  479,481,  517, 

556-559- 

Synods,  British  provincial,  annual,  518, 
556. 

Synods,  General,  76,  92,  95,  96, 121,  122, 
156,  178,  192,  202-204,  216-219,  219- 
221,  232,  234,  2q7-30i,  335-339,  343. 
344,  379-380,  386-387,  434-436,  470- 
474,  508-510,  576-585  (see  Errata). 

Synods,  German  provincial,  389,  392, 
438,  440,  476,  513,  515,  549,  551. 

Synods,  Saxon  provincial,  216. 

Synods,  Silesian  provincial,  205,  216. 

Tabase,  569. 

Tabor,  Barbados,  373. 

Tager,  An  !rew  F.  C,  431,  432. 

Talequah,  529,  530. 

Tambookies,  The,  377,  378,  425. 

Tank,  Oito.  403,  420. 

Tanneberger  family,  The,  11. 

Tanneberger  David,  37. 

Tappe,  Frederick,  506. 

Taubenheim,  152. 

Taylor,  Abraham,  286. 

Taylor,  David,  131. 

Taylor,  David,  of  Jamaica,  331. 

Taylor,  John,  of  Bakcwell,  518. 

Taylor,  John,  of  Barbados,  373,  558. 

Taylor,  William,  478,  480,  481,  508,  516, 

518,  556. 
Teedyeuscung,  175. 
Tellico  Blo'  k-house,  296. 
Tennant,  Gilbert,  139. 
Tennessee,  363,  364. 
Ter  Schilling,  369. 


628 


INDEX. 


Terror,  The,  413. 
Terryville,  448. 
Teschen,  14,  45. 
Test  Act,  The,  253. 
Tettepachsit,  320. 

Teutsch,  Christian  Louis,  424,  426. 

Teunessen,  Martin,  277-281. 

"  Text-book,"  The,  44. 

T'Gaika,  375. 

Thaeler,  Samuel  L.,  533. 

Thames,  The  (Canada),  263. 

Thames,  Battle  of  the,  322. 

Theological   seminary,  American,  317, 

406,  447,  450,  451.  521,526,  561,562. 
Theological  seminary,  Britain,  314,  351, 

356,  397,  442,  480,  557,  558. 
Theological  seminary,  Germany,  93,  96, 

113,  "9,  155,  232,  235,  338,  340,  346, 

380,  441,  450,  451,  514,  551. 
Theological  seminary,  Jamaica,  494. 
Theological  seminary,  St.  Thomas,  533- 
Thirteenth  of  August,  1727,  38,  39,  345. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  The,  I. 
Tholuck,  6. 

Thomas,  Governor  of  Pa.,  105,  108,  143. 
Thomas,  Irish  evangelist,  161. 
Thome,  161,  163. 
Thornton,  John,  223. 
Thorpe,  139. 

Thiirnstein,  Louis  von,  105. 

Tibetan  Mission,  The,  432,  433,  468-470, 

538,  569- 
Tietze,  Herman  J.,  399,  401,  450. 
Tietzen,  Gustavus,  385,  434,  436,  474, 

5"- 

Till,  Jacob,  97,  98,  114,  139. 
Tillbrook,  394. 
Tillotson,  8;. 
Tinana,  503. 

Titterington,  William,  517. 
Tobago,  234,  331,  373,  418-420. 
Toltschig,  John,  28,  45,  79,  84,  86,  89, 

90,  94,  129,  133,  134,  163,  168,  172, 

200. 

Tomotschatschi,  80. 
Tonz,  von,  20. 
Torgersen,  Hans,  544,  546. 
Tomea,  62. 
Tortola,  57. 
V    Towcester,  249. 

Traeger,  Joseph  H.,  526,  561. 

"Training  Institution,"  The,  441. 

Training-schools  (see  Normal  Schools). 

Traneker,  165,  168,  315. 

Tranquebar,  5,  1 80,  274,  275. 

Trebus,  11 1. 

Tremmesand,  55. 

"■Treue  Teil,  Das,"  299,  336. 

Trevecca,  249. 

Trinidad,  563,  567. 

Troeger,  George  Ferdinand,  360. 


"Tropes,"  The,  121,  193,  200. 
Trustees  of  the  Schools,  The,  219. 
Tschenkowitz,  439,  473,  555. 
Tschirsky,  Henrietta  von,  310. 
Tschoop  (see  Wasamapa). 
Tschudy,  J.  B.,  447. 
Tso-Tso,  469,  470. 

Tubingen,  5,  46,  68,  125,  197,  198,  232. 

Tuglavina,  225. 

Tune  Book,  395. 

Turnau,  555. 

Turner,  William,  266. 

Tuscarawas,  The  Massacre  in  the  valley 

of  the,  261,  262. 
Tuscarawas  valley.  The,  245-247,  259- 

262,  293-295,  320,  321,  361,  399. 
Twistwyk,  424. 
Tyrstruphof,  230. 
Tytherton,  129,  442,  443. 

Uddewalla,  285. 
Uecke,  George  F.,  449. 
Ugavigamiut,  566. 
Uhrichsville,  483. 
Uhyst,  237. 
Uitenhagen,  376. 
Ua  anak,  453. 
Ungava,  327,  453. 

Union  of  the  two  American  Provinces, 

448,  521. 
Union  Cross,  563. 
Union  Synod  of  Danzig,  10. 
Union  Synod  of  Warsaw,  9. 
Unionville,  Michigan,  482. 

Uni/atsgemdnJcn,"  The,  70,  384,  438. 
United  Irishmen,  The,  289. 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  The,  218, 
219,  275,  282,  283,  301,  302,  303,  305, 

310-  337,  339,  341,  343-  344,  347,  349, 
380,  381,  387,  389,  390,  401,404,429, 

436,  437,  458,  465,  474,  476,  477.  498, 

510-512,  553.  558  565. 
Unity's  Elders'  Conference  receives  rights 

of  a  corporate  body,  383.  551. 
Unity's  Warden's  Board,  The,  203,  204. 
Upsala,  97. 

Urambo,  563,  565,  570  S7S- 
Urbs  92. 
Urlsberger,  72. 
Utengule,  565,  573  574. 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  404,  407,  450. 
Utley,  139. 
Utrecht,  94. 

Uttendorfer,  Otto,  514,  553,  576. 
Vadencourt,  349. 

Vale  of  the  White  Horse,  The,  129. 
Van  Alpen,  62,  147. 
Van  Calker,  Ernest,  569. 
Van  Calker,  Theophilus,  420,  460,  496, 
510,  535. 


INDEX. 


629 


Van  den  Bempen,  63. 
Van  der  Graff,  Governor.  276. 
Van  Laer,  Cornelius,  122,  150,  15 1,  218, 
227. 

Van  Laer,  Cornelius  Renatus,  286. 
Van  Scholten,  Governor,  413. 
Van  Vleck,  Henry,  145. 
Van  Vleck,  Henry  J.,  449,  488,  523. 
Van  Vleck,  Jacob,  291,  318,  357 
Van  Vleck,  William  Henry,  359,  389, 
401. 

Verbeek,  Jan,  122,  151,  235. 

Verbeek,  John  Kenatus,  315,  317,  329, 

330.  339.  341,  357- 
Verbeek,  William,  474. 
Victor,  Iowa,  483. 

Vierorth,  Albert  Anthony,  75,  120,  155, 

200. 
Villingen,  303. 
Viney,  88,  89,  131. 
Virginia,  140. 

Visits  paid  to  Mission  fields  by  represen- 
tatives of  the  Board : 
Spangenberg  to  the  West  Indies,  55,  56. 
Zinzendorf  to  the  West  Indies,  56,  57. 
Nathanael  Seidel  to  Surinam,  238. 
Sternberg  to  Greenland,  265. 
Layritz  to  Labrador,  224. 
Loretz  to  the  West  Indies,  268. 
Reichel,  John  Frederick,  to  the  East 

Indies,  275. 
Liebisch  to  Surinam,  333. 
Verbeek  to  the  West  Indies,  329. 
Huffel  to  the  West  Indies,  344. 
Stobwasser  to  Jamaica,  370. 
LaTrobe,  Christian  Ignatius,  to  Cape 

Colony,  375. 
Breutel  to  the  West  Indies,  414. 
Hermann  and  Mallalieu  to^the  West 

Indies,  417. 
Wullschlaegel  to  the  Moskito  Coast, 

429. 

Reichel,  Ernest,  to  Greenland,  453. 
Reichel,  Levin  Theodore,  to  Labrador, 
453- 

Linder  to  Labrador,  453. 

Cunow   and  Badham  to   the  West 

Indies,  454,  455. 
Westerby  to  the  Moskito  Coast,  458. 
Reichel,  Levin  Theodore,  to  Labrador, 

476,  493- 

Reichel,  Eugene,  and  Van  Calker  to 
Surinam,  511,  535. 

Kiihn  to  South  Africa,  511,  536,  537. 

Romig  to  the  West  Indies,  511. 

La  Trobe,    Benjamin,  to  Labrador, 
528,  529. 

Buchner  to  South  Africa,  569. 
Vogler,  Jesse,  429. 
Vogler,  William  H.,  482,  560. 
Voigt,  John  Henry,  421. 


Volga,  The,  210-212,  230. 
Volhynia,  512,  560. 
Volk,  125. 
Volker,  Adam,  180. 
Voss,  Herman,  421. 

Wabash,  The  (see  Woapikamikunk). 

Wachovia  (see  North  Carolina),  171. 

Wachovia  Arbor,  563. 

Wade,  161,  249. 

Wagner,  Abraham,  104. 

Wagner,  John  George,  242. 

Wagner,  Samuel,  274. 

Wahres  Chrisientku/n,  Arndt's,  32. 

Waiblinger,  71,  152,  200,  203,  204,  237. 

Waldenfics,  The,  11. 

Walder,  Henry,  468. 

Walder,  Mrs.,  325. 

Wales,  134,  287,  316. 

"  Walking  Purchase,"  The,  102,  108. 

Wallachia,  178,  180. 

Wallbaum,  20. 

Wallace,  William,  261. 

Wallpack,  140. 

Walpole,  Horace,  136. 

Wanboro,  403. 

Wangomen,  244. 

Wanika,  535. 

"Wapping,  133. 

War  of  1 81 2,  The,  321,  322. 

War,  Austro-Prussian,  The,  439. 

"War  of  the  Axe,"  The,  425. 

War,  The  Civil,  446,  451,  454,  529. 

War  of  the  French  Revolution,  The, 

282-285,  332,  333- 
War,  Franco-Prussian,  The,  475,  476. 
War  of  Independence,  The,  251-254. 
Wars  of  Napoleon  I,  The,  300-310,  324- 

326,  330- 
War,  The  Schlesvi^ig-Holstein,  439. 
Ward,  Arthur,  557. 
Ward,  James  Gibson,  558,  564. 
Ward,  Henry,  of  Springplace,  529. 
Ward,  Thomas,  331. 
Warman,  John  F.,  403. 
Warmow,  Matthew,  413. 
Warner,  David  Mortimer,  449. 
Warner,  Samuel,  533. 
Warren,  John  Willing,  398. 
Warrows,  The,  185. 
Warthebruch,  The,  236. 
Warwick,  Pa.,  140,  171. 
Was  ist  Wahrheit  ?  391. 
Wasamapa,  141,  142. 
Waschke,  George,  79. 
Washington,  George,  252,  259. 
Watch-meeting,  The,  43. 
Waterloo,  Surinam,  460,  535. 
Watertown,  Wis.,  404,  407,  449,  450. 
Watson,  161. 
Watson,  Samuel,  270. 


630 


INDEX. 


Wattee,  Christian  David,  363. 
Watteville,  Baron  de,  of  Montmirail,  95. 
Watteville,  Frederick  de,  20,  24, 25, 30, 31, 

32.  36,  41,  74,  92,  93.  94.  95.  97.  98, 
114,  117, 125,  155,  2CO,  202,  203,  204, 
216,  237. 

Watteville,  Frederick  Rudolph  de,  310. 

Watteville,  John  de,  74,  93,  114,  117, 
"9,  155.  157,  159.  160,  164,  169,  181, 
200-203,  214,  216,  218,  235,  237,  256. 

Watteville,  Nicholas  de,  150. 

Waugh,  Joseph,  558. 

Weber,  Christian,  104. 

Weber,  David,  34. 

Weber,  Ernest,  546,  566. 

Weber,  George,  56,  57. 

Weber,  John  C,  402. 

Webster,  Mass.,  407. 

Wechquadnach,  142,  173. 

Wechquetank,  176,  240,  243. 

Weimar,  89. 

Weinanz,  84,  86. 

Weinel,  153. 

Weinland,  William,  S43-54S,  564. 

Weipa,  564. 

Weiss,  Henry,  533. 

Weiss,  Jedidiah,  402. 

Weiss,  Jonas  Paulus,  74,  114,  148,  156, 

200,  202,  237. 
Weiss,  Louis,  172. 
Weisser,  Conrad,  108,  109,  142,  143. 
Weitz,  Samuel,  490. 
Weitz,  Theodore,  499. 
Wends,  The,  159. 
Wernigerode  family,  The,  2c6. 
Wernsdorf,  20. 
Wesgau,  6. 

Wesley,  Charies,  79,  85,  88. 

Wesley,  John,  79,  84-90,  129,  133,  240. 

West,  Cornelius,  352. 

West,  Lewis,  288,  355. 

West  Bethlehem,  523. 

West  Indies,  The,  52-58,  80,  94,  95, 141, 
144,  182-184,  268-272,  328-331,  369- 
374,  413-420,  454-458,  494,  495.  532- 
534,  567,  577- 

West  Indies,  Development  of  the  Mis- 
sion provinces  in  tiie,  456,  494,  510, 

532.  533,  577,  581-  . 
West  Indies,  Division  into  two  provinces, 

532. 

West  Pennard,  443. 

West  Rudolph,  560. 

West  Salem,  387,  399,  403,  450. 

Westerby,  George  Wall,  415,  418,  419, 

458,  494. 
Westerwald,  The,  389. 
Westfield,  N.J.,  407. 
Westfield,  Kansas,  529,  530. 
Westmarm,  Eric,  140,  210-212. 
Westerwalde,  46. 


Westphalia,  198. 
Westphalia,  Peace  of,  i,  6. 
Westwood,  444. 

Wetteravia,  46,  73,  76,  89,  92,  93,  94, 

113,  114,  116,  119,  148,  158,  206. 
Wetzelius,  66. 

White  River,  The,  294,  319. 
Whitefield,  George,  81,  82,  86,89,  "o, 

128,  129,  133  139,  150,  165. 
Whitefield  House,  The,  489. 
Whitehead,  396. 
Wibsey,  394. 

Wied,  John,  311,  333,  339,  344,  350, 

357,  3«o,  381- 
Wiedebach,  Von,  151. 
Wiegner,  George,  78,  80. 
Wilde,  Frank  P.,  567. 
Wildenschwert,  555 
Wilhelm,  Frederick,  406. 
Willem,  64,  277. 
Willey,  John,  353. 
Willey,  Joseph  H.,  481,  516,  558. 
Williamson,  Colonel,  261,  262. 
Willow  Hill,  563. 

Wilson,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  137. 

Wilson,  John  M.,  556. 

Wilson,  Samuel,  444. 

Wiltshire,  129,  133,  163. 

Winiger,  179. 

Winkler,  72. 

Winston,  562. 

Wittenberg,  3,  6,  20,  232. 

Wittewater,  464. 

Witlezand,  424. 

Woapikamikunk,  294,  319. 

W'oesberge,  Van,  32. 

Wohlfarth,  Jacob,  322. 

Wolfe  Tone,  290. 

Wolff.  Frank,  545,  547. 

Wolle,  Augustus,  447. 

Wolle,  Francis,  401,  406.  407,  56;. 

Wolle  Naihanael  S.,  486,  4S8. 

Wolle,  Peler.  446,  450,  484. 

Wolle,  Sylvester,  405,  406,  446,  452,  484. 

Wollin,  Gotthold,  153,  286. 

Wolmar,  75,  1 1 8. 

Wolverhampton,  165. 

Wood,  John,  270. 

Woodford.  289,  315. 

Woodmount,  530. 

Woodstock  Mills,  404. 

Woolwas,  The,  428. 

Woolwich,  140,  318, 

Woosley,  David,  564. 

Worcester,  The  Bishop  of,  1 36. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  407. 

Worcester,  Samuel  Austin,  363. 

Worsteling  Jacobs,  420. 

Worthington,  John,  288. 

Wottmar,  Paul,  11. 

Wried,  Gottlob,  41,  45. 


INDEX. 


631 


Wunsche,  Emest  L.,  477. 

Wunsche,  Gottlieb,  421. 

Wuensche,  Julius  E.,  449. 

Wiirttemberg,  95,  236. 

Wullschlaegel,   Henry    Rudolph,  390, 

417,  420,  429,  434,  436,  437,  458. 
Wunderling,  Theobald,  554. 
Wunderling,  Theophilus,  451,  452. 
VVusterhausen,  75. 
Wyalusing,  175,  243,  244. 
Wyke,  165,  289. 
Wynstrauch,  223. 

Wyoming  Valley,  The,  109,  143,  173. 

Yadkin  Valley,  The,  171. 
Yarrel,  139. 

York,  Pa ,  1 10,  140,  253,  446,  452. 

York  city  missions,  526. 

York  s  Peninsula,  468. 

Yorkshire,  90,  113,  131,  134,  149,  151, 

163,  164,  168,  289. 
Ysenburg,  Counts,  73. 
Ysenburg-Wachtersbach,  73. 
Ysselstein,  72,  76,  92,  122. 

Zachert,  498. 

Zaslein,  John  Henry,  339,  343. 
Zarazin,  2U,  212,  230,  231. 
Zauchtenthal,  10,  11,  12,  27,  28,  29,  33, 
231- 

Zdonskawola,  438. 

Zealand,  The  Bishop  of,  581. 

Zeelandia,  374. 

Zeisberger  family,  The,  11. 

Zeisberger,  David,  80,  143,  176,  240, 

243-246,  255,  260-263,  293-295,  321- 
Zeisberger,    The   Life   and    Times  of 

David,  de  Schweinitz,  525. 
Zeisberger,  Melchior,  28,  37,  45,  237. 
Zeist,  62,  92,  122,  151,  152,  206,  207, 

227,  274,  282-284,  458,  497,  513,  550. 
Zendinggenootschap     der  Broederge- 

meente.  The,  27  497. 
Zerawic,  10,  11. 
Zevilly,  Vanaman,  360. 
Zezschwitz,  General  von,  303. 
Zezscbwitz,  Henry  von,  151,  152,  157, 

237- 
Zibi,  501-503. 
Ziegenbalg,  5,  63. 
Ziegenhagen,  72,  79,  84,  107. 
Ziegler,  Daniel,  358. 
Zinzendorf,  Agnes  von,  203,  237. 
Zinzendorf,  Benigna  von,  94,  97,  203, 

256. 

Zinzendorf,   Charlotte  Justina  von,  17 
(see  Madame  Nazmer). 


Zinzendorf,  Christian  Renatus  von,  47, 

93.  125,  13+,  149- 
Zinzendorf,  Elizabeth  von,  203,  310. 
Zinzendorf,  Erdmuth  Dorothy  von,  23, 

74,  97,  147,  148,  156. 
Zinzendorf,  Frederick  Christian  von,  21, 
40,  158, 

Zinzendorf,  George  Lewis  von,  17. 

Zinzendorf,  Maximilian  Erasmus  von,  17. 

Zinzendorf,  Nicholas  Lewis  von,  15,  17- 
23,  24,  30,  31,  32,  34-38,  40-48,  49-52, 
56,  63,  64,  67-77,  78,  80,  84,  85,  87, 
89,  93-98,  105-110,  1 13-126,  133,  134, 
135,  146-153,  154-160,  164,  165,  166, 
171,  176,  178,  180,  181,  189-195,  197. 

Zinzendorf,  admitted  to  the  ministry,  67, 
68,  71. 

 ,  Advocatus  et  Ordinarius  Fratrum, 

114. 

 ,  banishment  from  Saxony,  72,  93. 

 ,  correspondence  of,  45,  46. 

 ,  episcopate,  consecration  to  the,  76. 

 ,  episcopate,  resignation  of  the,  96. 

 ,  estate,  settlement  of,  202-204. 

 ,  Herrnhut,  visit  to,  123. 

 ,  Herrnhut,  return  to,  154. 

 ,  journey  to  Livonia,  75. 

 ,  journey  to  Pennsylvania,  I05-118. 

 ,  journey  to  Russia,  1 17,  nS. 

 ,  journey  to  the  West  Indies,  56,  57, 

94,  95- 

 ,  Parliament,  negotiations  with,  135- 

137- 

 ,  theology  of,  189-195. 

 ,  withdrawal  from  Saxon  service,  47. 

 ,  Wesley,  parting  with,  133. 

 ,  death,  159. 

Zinzendorf  im  Verhdltnis  zu  Philosophie 
und  Kirckenium  seiner  Zeit,  Becker, 
515- 

Zinzendorf '' s  Leben,  Spangenberg,  217. 
Zinzendorf,  Otto  Christian  von,  20. 
Zippel,  Edwin,  556. 
Zlatnik,  70. 
Ziltau,  6. 

Zoar,  Labrador,  453,  528,  529,  566. 
Zoar,  Minn.,  448. 
Zoebisch,  C.  A.,  486,  488,  521. 
Zoetemelksvallei,  63. 
Zondereind  river,  63. 
Zom,  Jacob,  415,  417. 
Zom,  Theophilus,  451,  524. 
Zurich,  342. 

Zula,  Basil  Patras,  353,  354. 
Zwelibanzi,  John,  426,  537. 


ERRATA. 


Page  9,  line  1 8,  read  indicate  for  indicated. 
Page  35,  line  9  from  foot,  read  1735  and 
1736. 

Page  69,  line  9,  omit  "  comma." 

Page  79,  line  14,  read  1735. 

Page  85,  line  7,  read  1736. 

Page  98,  foot,  read  Burkhardfs. 

Page  139,  line  11  from  foot,  read  Kaske 

for  Kaska. 
Page  139,  line  6  from  foot,  read  John  for 

Paul. 

Page  142,  line  8,  read  Christian. 
Page  144,  top,  read  arrangements. 
Page  172,  line  9  from  foot,  insert  1755, 

after  July  9. 
Page  173,  line  16  from  foot,  read  Post. 
Page  176,  line  13,  read  1764  for  1762. 
Page  229,  line  13,  read  Verstand  for 

Vertand. 

Page  244,  line  9  from  foot,  read  Wan- 
gomen. 


Page  245,  line  17,  read  ability. 
Page  247,  line  3,  read  inseparable. 
Page  250,  line  4  from  foot,  read  Breth- 
ren's. 

Page  288,  line  14,  read  Clifden. 

Page  357,  line  6,  read  Rcndthaler. 

Page  411,  line  9,  read  instruction. 

Page  434,  line  16  from  foot,  read  Edwin 
T.  Senscman. 

Page  460,  line  10,  read  Amadeus. 

Page  439,  line  4,  read  Homer  tor  Ronner. 

Page  462,  line  17  from  foot,  read  the 
benefits. 

Page  468,  line  5,  read  Lake. 

Page  474,  line  13,  read  Gottlieb  Ferdi- 
nand Martin. 

Page  513,  line  20,  read  Eugene. 

Page  514,  line  12,  read  Alexander  von 
Dewitz. 

Page  573,  line  13,  read  Qtulimane. 
Page  588,  line  11  from  foot,  read  1835. 


Circumstantial  narration  of  events  and  transactions  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century  has  not  been  regarded  as  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work. 
Yet  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  it  may  be  added  that  the  general  synod  was  in 
session  at  Hermhut  from  May  27  to  July  I,  1889.  Bishop  William  Taylor  was 
elected  President  with  Bishops  Henry  Miiller  and  J.  M.  Levering  as  Vice-Presidents. 
The  main  attention  of  this  synod  was  given  to  administrative  details  in  relation  to 
the  joint  undertakings  of  the  Brethren's  Unity.  The  use  of  the  lot  as  a  part  of  the 
required  methods  of  church  activity  and  life,  was  abrogated.  As  reconstituted  by 
synod  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  consisted  of  the  administrative  board  of  the 
German  province,  together  with  James  Connor,  Benjamin  Romig,  Guido  Burkhardt 
and  Charles  Buchner,  the  members  of  the  Department  of  Missions. 


Date  Due  I 

1 

 1 

1  iiiii^inwH 

— — 

— — #4 

AP  2a  s'^ 

c 

FA.CULIY 

iF  f*o"55^ 

FACULTY 

55^^^ — 

1  o  z 



X. 


